RottenTomatoes.com
Log In | Register | What is RT?
Check out the new RT Community
  • Home
  • Movies
  • DVD
  • Celebrities
  • News
  • Critics
  • Trailers & Pictures
  • CommunityBeta
  • Box Office
  • | In Theaters
  • | Opening
  • | Upcoming
  • | Best Of
  • | Certified Fresh
  • | Showtimes
RT Search Powered by Google
help icon Enhanced RT
searches on Google
Click here to turn on enhanced search results from RT on your Google searches.
 
Movies / On DVD / House of Sand and Fog
House of Sand and Fog

Rate this Movie Help Icon

  • Write a Review
  • Read Reviews
  • Add to List
  • Get this Movie
  • Buy Poster External Icon
  • Visit Official Site External Icon
Bookmark and Share

House of Sand and Fog (2003)

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
75 %
Tomatometer
Template ImageTemplate Image

How does the Tomatometer work Help Icon

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

[See More Credits]

  • Trailers
  • Pictures
  • House of Sand and Fog Trailer
    >
1 of 1

See More Movie Trailers & Pictures

Get This Movie

Rent DVD
 
 

Click on the "ADD" button to put this movie into your Netflix queue.

 
 
Buy DVD
 
 
Release:

Mar 30, 2004

No Details Exist
 
 

Reviews for House of Sand and Fog

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
 
 
141 - 160 (sorted by date)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 >> >|
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

Thoughtful, disturbing storytelling.

Full Review Source: Film Blather | comment Comment
12/18/03
Eugene Novikov
Eugene Novikov
Film Blather

The most assured English language debut to hit screens since the equally dark and creepy American Beauty.

Full Review Source: Planet Sick-Boy | comment Comment
12/18/03
Jon Popick
Jon Popick
Planet Sick-Boy

Since the film fails to communicate the necessary level of interior insight, it's like spending two hours with people you'd just as soon never have met.

Full Review Source: culturevulture.net | comment Comment
12/18/03
Arthur Lazere
Arthur Lazere
culturevulture.net

Elegantly somber...it fails to paint both sides of its central dispute with the same degree of success, but it builds considerable cumulative power.

Full Review Source: One Guy's Opinion | comment Comment
12/18/03
Frank Swietek
Frank Swietek
One Guy's Opinion

It's a story that haunts long after it's seen, not just because we're overpowered by what happens to its characters but because, if we're honest, we see how all of it, even the worst of it, could happen to us.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | comment Comment
12/18/03
Kenneth Turan
Kenneth Turan
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Narrative logic fades during the second half.

Full Review Source: Christian Science Monitor | comment Comment
12/18/03
David Sterritt
David Sterritt
Christian Science Monitor

A beautiful thing to look at, and maybe cry over.

Full Review Source: Newsday | comment Comment
12/18/03
John Anderson
John Anderson
Newsday
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

[A] rewarding tale of desperation and lost dreams.

Full Review Source: Beach Reporter (Southern California) | comment Comment
12/18/03
Brian J. Arthurs
Brian J. Arthurs
Beach Reporter (Southern California)

the very human longing for roots [and] how preconceived notions about other cultures are a recipe for disaster . . .deserve better than the cheapening melodrama afforded them

Full Review Source: Killer Movie Reviews | comment Comment
12/18/03
Andrea Chase
Andrea Chase
Killer Movie Reviews

Everything about the movie seems excessive to the material.

Full Review Source: L.A. Weekly | comment Comment
12/18/03
Ella Taylor
Ella Taylor
L.A. Weekly

Sir Ben Kingsley and Jennifer Connelly provide memorable performances, but this morose film is far too boring and depressing to recommend.

Full Review Source: EDGE Boston | comment Comment
12/18/03
David Foucher
David Foucher
EDGE Boston

Is House anti-American? Possibly.

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
12/18/03
Sean O'Connell
Sean O'Connell
Filmcritic.com

Kingsley's astonishing performance is wasted in this otherwise overlong, overwrought, and overcooked mess-o-drama.

Full Review Source: AboutFilm.com | comment Comment
12/17/03
Carlo Cavagna
Carlo Cavagna
AboutFilm.com

It is easily one of the very best films of this or any year.

Full Review Source: Internet Reviews | comment Comment
12/17/03
Steve Rhodes
Steve Rhodes
Internet Reviews

Difficult to gauge on its own merits given the typically invasive grandiosity of another abominable James Horner score.

Full Review Source: Film Freak Central | comment Comment
12/17/03
Walter Chaw
Walter Chaw
Film Freak Central

An important indictment against intolerance of all kinds, and an exceptional work whose very subject will likely scare off the very audiences who need to see it the most.

Full Review Source: FilmJerk.com | comment Comment
12/16/03
Edward Havens
Edward Havens
FilmJerk.com

A superior, heartbreaking film.

Full Review Source: TIME Magazine | comment Comment
12/16/03
Richard Schickel
Richard Schickel
TIME Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Ben Kingsley and Jennifer Connelly create characters that live and seethe with absolute credibility.

Full Review Source: Premiere Magazine | comment Comment
12/16/03
Glenn Kenny
Glenn Kenny
Premiere Magazine

Airlessly melodramatic, full of moral brow-furrowing.

Full Review Source: Village Voice | comment Comment
12/16/03
Ed Park
Ed Park
Village Voice

There's a lot of melodrama. But the quality of the writing and the acting in particular elevates it.

Full Review Source: Ebert & Roeper | comment Comment
12/15/03
Richard Roeper
Richard Roeper
Ebert & Roeper
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
 
 
141 - 160 (sorted by date)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 >> >|
all

Latest News for House of Sand and Fog

September 05, 2007: Atlas Shrugged Gets a New Director
It's been twiddling its thumbs in development limbo for nearly five years, but according to Variety, the film adaptation of Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged is on again. More...

July 08, 2005: Trailer Bulletin: The Exorcism of Emily Rose
Head on over to the film's official site for your first look at the trailer to "The Exorcism of Emily Rose." The supernatural horror flick is directed by Scott... More...

May 06, 2005: Connelly and P.S. Hoffman to Do a New "Macbeth"
Director Todd Louiso ("Love Liza") has been trying to get his "Macbeth" adaptation off the ground for a while, and it looks like things are finally moving... More...

March 17, 2003: Click Here for Preview. Opens in new window
More...

See All

More DVDs

Close
Top Rentals
Tomatometer Percentage Movie
15% 15% The Ugly Truth
98% 98% Up
36% 36% G.I. Joe: The Rise of …
52% 52% The Taking of Pelham 1…
45% 45% Ice Age: Dawn of the D…

More Rentals…

New On DVD This Week
Tomatometer Percentage Movie
36% 36% Angels & Demons
68% 68% Funny People
25% 25% Four Christmases
45% 45% Shorts

More New Releases…

See All

RT On Current TV

The Rotten Tomatoes Show on Current TV

DIRECTV 358 | Comcast 107 | DISH Network 196 | More...

Learn how you can be part of the show

More...

What’s Hot On RT

Avatar

Avatar

Watch an exclusive behind-the-scenes video!

Box Office

Box Office

New Moon #1, breaks TDK records

RT's Gift Guide

RT's Gift Guide

Give the best movies, gear, and more!

Ninja Assassin

Ninja Assassin

Learn to train like a ninja in this clip!

Other News

Close
  • Top Stories
  • Popular
  • Interviews
 
 

Comments

 
 
Top Stories
Headlines Comments
  
  • Natalie Portman Says Kat Denning Is in Thor Source: MTV
8
  • Disney Restructuring Has Broad Implications Source: Los Angeles Times
9
  • Joel Silver Talks Ninja Assassin, Sgt. Rock, Lobo, and More Source: Collider.com
1
  • Weekly Ketchup: Idris Elba cast in Thor, more Spider-Man 4 rumors
106
  • Idris Elba Joins Thor Source: Hollywood Reporter
112
  • Jackass 3D Coming in 2010? Source: Collider.com
32
  • 6 Reasons 'Twilight' Is Doomed Source: The Wrap
64
  • Forbes Names Hollywood's Most Overpaid Actors Source: Forbes
20
  • Chris Weitz Says He's (Almost) Done with Directing Source: Film School Rejects
26
  • Spider-Man 4 Casting Rumors Multiply Like Rabbits Source: Deadline Hollywood Daily
51
Popular
Headlines Comments
  
  • Box Office Guru Wrapup: New Moon Shatters Records
163
  • Critics Consensus: New Moon Wanes
129
  • Tomatometer Watch: Will Twilight's New Moon Dazzle?
97
  • Total Recall: Star-Crossed Lovers
75
  • Weekly Ketchup: Idris Elba cast in Thor, more Spider-Man 4 rumors
53
  • Five Favorite Films with Werner Herzog
50
  • Total Recall: John Travolta's Best Movies
43
  • Friday Harvest: New Moon, Avatar, and more!
32
  • RT on DVD & Blu-Ray: Angels & Demons, Funny People, and Superman
14
  • "I Don't Hate Women": Lars von Trier on Antichrist
6
Interviews
Headlines Comments
  
  • "I Don't Hate Women": Lars von Trier on Antichrist
6
  • Eric Bana talks Love the Beast - RT Interview
8
  • Fight Club Sound Designer Reflects on Film's 10th Anniversary
19
  • James Schamus talks Taking Woodstock - RT Interview
6
  • John Hurt Talks Harry Potter, Quentin Crisp and Alien - The RT Interview
15
  • Terry Gilliam Talks Doctor Parnassus
18
  • Wes Anderson Talks Fantastic Mr. Fox - RT Interview
8
  • Wolverine Creator Len Wein Talks About the Film
28
  • Gavin Hood Talks Wolverine; Possible Sequel
28
  • Duncan Jones talks Moon, Sam Rockwell, and Mute
14
 
 

Sponsored Links

Around The Network

  • House of Sand and Fog at Rotten Tomatoes
  • House of Sand and Fog at IGN
  • House of Sand and Fog at AskMen

Fresh Links

Featured
Star Trek DVD Exclusive
Star Trek DVD Exclusive External Link

TECHLAND gives us a first look at the extras, including Leonard Nimoy's last day on set!

The New Cult Canon
The New Cult Canon External Link

AV Club looks at a beloved cult classic, Sam Raimi's Army of Darkness.

New Moon Portraits
New Moon Portraits External Link

TIME offers us a closer look at the characters from the latest Twilight film.

Unsexiest Men Alive
Unsexiest Men Alive External Link

Moviefone lists their choices for the least attractive men in Hollywood.

Promos
Follow RT on Twitter
Follow RT on Twitter External Link

Get the latest Tomatometer updates on upcoming movies!

 
 
About| Site Map| Help| RT To Go| Contact Us| Critics Submission| Linking to RT| Licensing| Movie List| Games| Celebs List| Newsletter
IGN Logo

IGN.com | GameSpy | Comrade | Arena | FilePlanet | GameSpy Technology
TeamXbox | Planets | Vaults | VE3D | CheatsCodesGuides | GameStats | GamerMetrics
AskMen.com | Rotten Tomatoes | Direct2Drive | Green Pixels


By continuing past this page, and by the continued use of this site, you agree to be bound by and abide by the User Agreement.
Copyright 1998-2009, IGN Entertainment, Inc. About IGN | Support | Advertise | Privacy Policy | User Agreement | Subscribe to RT's XML feed! IGN RSS Feeds
IGN's enterprise databases running Oracle, SQL and MySQL are professionally monitored and managed by Pythian Remote DBA
Certain product data ©1995-present Muze, Inc. For personal use only. All rights reserved.