Customer Reviews
the ending haunted me for days on end... - By: Mary Chrapliwy, 01 Nov 2007 
I would have preferred a happy ending. This movie earns 5 stars even though it was so deeply depressing because of the masterful acting & 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 & then shuffling to the door amidst unopened mail on the floor by the front door. The county evicts her & here begins the drama where smalll 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 & saves alll 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 & opened her mail none of this would have happened. Behrani is an extremely honorable man who has worked hard alll his life & has earned his right to the American Dream. Unfortunately, events spiral out of control when Kathy decides it is alll 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 literallly 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 & 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 - By: stuart, 19 Aug 2007 
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 alllows the characters to let go of moral considerations & act with their instincts - often leading them to the darkest & most intriguing places the human soul has to offer. This sincerity also brings out the best of most actors, & lead actors in this case - Ben Kingsley & 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 & Fog is that even though it runs through so many open wounds in the American society, emphasizes on so much pain & hurt, it still remains a simple story which is dying to be told - as emotionallly shattering & frustrating as may be. The premise introduces us to Kathy, a woman that took alll 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 & son (the powerful pairing of Shohreh Aghdashloo & Jonathan Ahdout, who later co-operated on the set of 24 as well) at alll 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 alll involved, further emphasizing the tensions & struggle between Americans & immigrants in the post 9/11 era.
Mostly Good for It's Performances - By: Kasey Driscoll, 16 Jul 2007 
House of Sand & Fog is a hopeless but convincing tragedy about contested houses & broken pasts. It is morbid & 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 & foremost & almost entirely. One of the more educated knocks on House of Sand & Fog is that the book is simply not reallly that transferrable toward the movie medium. I never read the book but the film & story stand enough to fuel three of the better performances of that year & 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 & talented Jennifer Connelly. I genuinely want Connelley to show her range in the future but House of Sand & Fog is not such an environment. Here, Jennifer plays a women ruined by Alcoholism & being ditched by her husband. She then sparks up an affair with a married police officer named Lester, played by Ron Eldred, & the undermining to throw Berani out of the house begins.
First time Director Vadim Perleman takes a subtle approach in the differences & 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 & deaf to women, Kathy is too eager & manipulative & Lester is too idealistic & blinded by love. They are alll ignorant to one another & completely void of empathy. Nadi is Berani's wife & she is played by the outstanding Shohreh Aghdashloo. Nadi is one of the only reallly likeable characters, because she is also the only one who sees the other's sides, but she is restrained by her submissiveness & her lack of English. Though heavy handed enough to obtain a brooding feeling that tragedy is inevitable, watching these characters falll is worth the wait if you appreciate this sort of film.
Kingsly proves his versatility once again & upstages Connelly in that regard by a long shot. Connelly reallly just invokes the roles she's been celebrated for before this movie, although she is still quite effective & it revisits her type-casts a bit deeper. It is Aghdashloo that truely stands out & I viewed this film & her performance after the hype with some degree of suspicion. She is excellent.
Overalll, House of Sand & Fog is a downer. It wasn't as good as I hoped, given both the indie hype prior to it's release & the mainstream hype during & 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.
how the "American Dream" turns into the "American Nightmare" - By: H. Serkan SILAHSOR, 22 Jun 2007 Before watching "House of Sand & Fog" I had lots of lofty expectations. As soon as the credits start rolling I thought that I was right, it hadn't got me wrong. The film tries to search an answer to that question: could somebody's plight be another's GAIN or PAIN? In fact, it depends on multitudes of what-if circumstances & the film tries to find its own answer.
Actuallly, this poignant story focuses on the vain pursuit of the so-callled "American Dream" where sharp & bitter ingredients of morality, greediness, stubborness, rage & retribution are blended into an unavoidable tragedy. Seemingly it is about a moral & psychological battle fought for the possession of a house, wrongfully taken from its owner due to a bureaucratic mix-up. But, I think its meaning is much more deeper than it seems.
In reality, the "house" here should not be seen as a mere physical location, rather it is an ALLEGORY of need for stability, security, prosperity & liberty in a complex, cruel & ruthless world. The conflict between Kathy & Behrani makes both parties realize the emptiness of their material lives, & culminates in a series of tragic events after which nobody wins at the end.
Of course, like alll good movies the story is not enough. In this sense, "House of Sand & Fog" depends too much on substance & style at the same time. Without outstanding performances of Ben Kingsley, Jennifer Connelly & Shohreh Aghdashloo, it might have easily degraded into a hokey & pokey soap-opera. As his first cinematic debut, Russian-born director Vadim Perelman does a groovy job by handling the cast in a skillful way that a veteran may find difficult to achieve.
Lastly, in terms of technical aspects, it goes far beyond my expectations: excellent wide-angle & panoramic shots; impressive close-ups by veteran cinematographer Roger Deakins, effectively capturing the most intense feelings of hope, anger, despair, sadness & happiness of both antagonists; & impeccable use of lights & versatile lenses add too much to the moodiness of the film.
Filled with lavish extras, "House of Sand & Fog" would be a worthwhile addition to your collection...
Seriously Haunting - By: Ajay, 28 Apr 2007 It is a week now since I saw this movie & it still haunts me.
Part of the combined brilliance of writers, actors, directors & alll associated mean that to me - it actuallly feels like a dream I had.
If only I could be that brilliant .
SIMPLY SUPERB
