Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6786 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-08-23
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English, Persian
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 121 minutes

Synopsis
Ben Kingsley and Jennifer Connelly star in the powerful drama HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG as two people fighting over the same house. Connelly is Kathy, a troubled young woman struggling with addiction and her husband's departure. Lost in druggy daze, she fails to check her mail, which includes letters threatening to evict her. After she is thrown out of the house she grew up in--wrongly, it turns out, so she seeks legal representation--Massoud Amir Behrani (Kingsley) buys the property at auction with the goal of selling it at a huge profit so his family can live a better life. Behrani, a former colonel in the Iranian army, is determined to make his family's move to the United States a successful one--nothing matters more to him than his wife and son's well-being. But when he sees Kathy sleeping in a car outside his fence, he knows he is in for a fight.
Based on the book by Andre Dubus III, Vadim Perelman's directorial debut is a fascinating study of family in the United States. Kathy has no one to turn to--her father is dead, her husband has abandoned her, and she's too frightened to seek help from her mother or brother. She falls for Lester (Ron Eldard), a deputy sheriff who claims to no longer love his wife. And Behrani is so dedicated to his wife (Shohreh Aghidashloo in a riveting performance) and son (Jonahtan Ahdout) that he blinds himself to Kathy's dire situation. HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG is a relentless, thought-provoking work that will linger with audiences long after the film ends.

Customer Reviews

the ending haunted me for days on end...
I would have preferred a happy ending. This movie earns 5 stars even though it was so deeply depressing because of the masterful acting and beautiful scene shots.

Kathy gets evicted from her house because she failed to pay a tax that the county mistakenly charged her with. It opens with her laying in bed and then shuffling to the door amidst unopened mail on the floor by the front door. The county evicts her and here begins the drama where small errors in judgment escalate into a nightmare. You keep thinking through the whole movie - if she only opened her stinking mail none of this would have happened. Even her lawyer asks her why she didn't open her mail.

Enter Behrani, an Iranian immigrant played by Ben Kingsley). He is a very hard working man who wants desperately to improve his family's lot in life. He works two jobs with quiet dignity and saves all his wages until he can afford the down payment on Kathy's empty house, now up for auction.

The character Kathy is so unsympathetic that you begin to feel she is the biggest idiot on the planet ... if only she got out of bed and opened her mail none of this would have happened. Behrani is an extremely honorable man who has worked hard all his life and has earned his right to the American Dream. Unfortunately, events spiral out of control when Kathy decides it is all Behrani's fault that she is no longer in her home. Meanwhile Behrani's completely innocent family goes about their lives never knowing the heartbreak that will come.

The end of this movie was so incredibly sad that I literally had to watch a comedy to come out of the misery this movie left me in. There is tragedy to the extreme here - there are so many ways that this movie could have ended that would have been so satisfying, but that road was not to be taken. The acting was so powerful and the movie was so well made, yet the heartache at the terrible ending made it excruciating. If you don't mind the idea of having your emotions torn to shreds, this movie might be worth watching. But if you like a happy ending, or even a semi-happy ending, this movie is not for you. I know I will be thinking about it for days...

A SIMPLE STORY OF HOW FAR ONE PERSON WILL GO
I've always had a soft spot for films that tell the story of desperate people that are reduced to desperate means. It's that "hanging on the edge" feel that allows the characters to let go of moral considerations and act with their instincts - often leading them to the darkest and most intriguing places the human soul has to offer. This sincerity also brings out the best of most actors, and lead actors in this case - Ben Kingsley and Jennifer Connelly - truly shine like never before. If I were a member of the Academy, this would be the right film to congratulate both with their respective second Academy Award.

The beauty of House of Sand and Fog is that even though it runs through so many open wounds in the American society, emphasizes on so much pain and hurt, it still remains a simple story which is dying to be told - as emotionally shattering and frustrating as may be. The premise introduces us to Kathy, a woman that took all the wrong turns in life, becoming an unemployed alcoholic, that due to her neglect is about to lose the last thing that has any value in her life - her house. Kingsley portrays Behrani, an Iranian immigrant who is trying to live the American dream with his wife and son (the powerful pairing of Shohreh Aghdashloo and Jonathan Ahdout, who later co-operated on the set of 24 as well) at all costs. After winning the house in an auction, he lies to them about its origins as well as about his day job. When Kathy appears at his door one day, Neither is willing to give up the estate without a decent fight - one which will have tragic results for all involved, further emphasizing the tensions and struggle between Americans and immigrants in the post 9/11 era.

Mostly Good for It's Performances
House of Sand and Fog is a hopeless but convincing tragedy about contested houses and broken pasts. It is morbid and profound enough to keep the riff raff away while also being flat enough to stray from any mainstream. I enjoyed the film for the same reasons critics probably enjoyed it. The film is carried by it's performances first and foremost and almost entirely. One of the more educated knocks on House of Sand and Fog is that the book is simply not really that transferrable toward the movie medium. I never read the book but the film and story stand enough to fuel three of the better performances of that year and also the greatest ensemble considering it's cost.

First is Ben Kingsley who plays Colonel Berani, a man who was forced to flee Iran during it's revolution. He sees a similar home in San Franscisco with regards to it's view (in Iran his home oversaw the Caspian Sea beautifully). This new home was recently repossessed from Kathy, played by the beautiful and talented Jennifer Connelly. I genuinely want Connelley to show her range in the future but House of Sand and Fog is not such an environment. Here, Jennifer plays a women ruined by Alcoholism and being ditched by her husband. She then sparks up an affair with a married police officer named Lester, played by Ron Eldred, and the undermining to throw Berani out of the house begins.

First time Director Vadim Perleman takes a subtle approach in the differences and similarities between the film's main characters. It was enough to make me walk away from the film wanting more but as if by osmosis the film won me over in perspective only days later. Watching the three main characters tangled in their flaws is enough to keep the film compelling. Berani is too proud and deaf to women, Kathy is too eager and manipulative and Lester is too idealistic and blinded by love. They are all ignorant to one another and completely void of empathy. Nadi is Berani's wife and she is played by the outstanding Shohreh Aghdashloo. Nadi is one of the only really likeable characters, because she is also the only one who sees the other's sides, but she is restrained by her submissiveness and her lack of English. Though heavy handed enough to obtain a brooding feeling that tragedy is inevitable, watching these characters fall is worth the wait if you appreciate this sort of film.

Kingsly proves his versatility once again and upstages Connelly in that regard by a long shot. Connelly really just invokes the roles she's been celebrated for before this movie, although she is still quite effective and it revisits her type-casts a bit deeper. It is Aghdashloo that truely stands out and I viewed this film and her performance after the hype with some degree of suspicion. She is excellent.

Overall, House of Sand and Fog is a downer. It wasn't as good as I hoped, given both the indie hype prior to it's release and the mainstream hype during and after it's release, but it was still pretty good. The cast alone makes the film worth watching but I would still imagine we will see more from Perleman in the future as well.