Before it runs off course into excess, this brilliantly acted film version of the 1999 novel by Andre Dubus III moves with a stabbing urgency.
House of Sand and Fog (2003)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:166
Fresh:125
Rotten:41
Average Rating:7.1/10
Consensus: Powerful and thought provoking film.
Rated: R [See Full Rating] for some violence/disturbing images, language and a scene of sexuality
Runtime: 2 hrs 6 mins
Genre: Dramas
Theatrical Release:Dec 19, 2003 Limited
Box Office: $12,924,917
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... 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 her funk, 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. [More]
Starring: Ben Kingsley, Jennifer Connelly, Ron Eldard, Jonathan Ahdout
Starring: Ben Kingsley, Jennifer Connelly, Ron Eldard, Jonathan Ahdout, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Frances Fisher, Kim Dickens, Navi Rawat
Director: Vadim Perelman
Director: Vadim Perelman
Screenwriter: Vadim Perelman, Shawn Otto
Producer: Michael London, Vadim Perelman
Composer: James Horner
Studio: DreamWorks Distribution LLC
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Reviews for House of Sand and Fog
Everything that happens in this bloated Lifetime Movie could have been avoided if its heroine hadn't spent months wallowing in such self-pity that she couldn't open her mail.
The House of Sand and Fog is clearly one of the best films of the year, but probably won't be recognized come award season due to the downbeat nature of the story.
Kingsley's subtle acting style is lifted to blissfully new heights in the first half of the film, where he often does nothing but focus his intense glare on a subject.
The audience laughed at the improbability of the story. This is a bad sign.
It fails to sustain a sense of tragic inevitability and that prevents it from being truly involving.
A grim, challenging movie that will amply reward audiences willing to go along with its ride into the dark depths of its characters' souls.
A sad, rich story, full of misunderstandings, bad bargains, odd parallels.
A fine, truly serious picture whose only other major flaw is a climactic turn into melodrama of the most horrifically punishing kind.
Is there anything that makes you want to scream more than a film that’s this full of its own gravity and import?
What could have been, in lesser hands, a cheap and heartless real estate smackdown is instead a somber, intriguing and morally juicy drama for most of its running time.
Looks great, the performances are top-notch, but it's a difficult film to watch - it starts off sad and goes downhill from there.
Not easy to sit through, but it has something worthwhile to communicate and strong actors who go all out to communicate it.
Vadim Perelman's impressively self-assured directing debut harvests the terror and grandeur of classical tragedy from the everyday sorrows of contemporary American life.
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March 17, 2003:
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