House of Sand and Fog
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Movie Reviews of House of Sand and Fog
Movie Review: This Property is Condemned
Summary: 5 Stars
Andre Dubus' novel on which Vadim Perelman bases his film, "The House of Sand and Fog" is a masterful, subtle, frightening parable about how we Americans take our freedoms for granted and how it often takes someone from a country with few or no freedoms to shake us up, wake us up to all that we have here. Ben Kingsley as Behrani says it succinctly when he compares we Americans to children, always looking for the next thrill, the next sweet, the next thing to excite us, the next thing to keep us occupied and interested (paraphrase). But whereas Dubus' novel is spare, direct and to the point, Perelman's film sometimes strays into melodrama, especially in the film's third act when the action gets too contrived and almost veers into silliness. But the epilogue is so strong, so poignant, so well acted by all that you soon forgive "The House of Sand and Fog" it's foibles.
Ben Kingsley's performance is a wonder. As Behrani he plays a powerful man forced out of Iran with his wife and children only to work two menial jobs in the U.S. to support his family. He is proud yet cunning, saving his money when he can, always looking for ways to improve his lot. Behrani is a man who ultimately pays for his pride in the worst possible ways, yet he accepts his fate with dignity and courage. His fall from grace is not noble, but it is understandable.
Jennifer Connolly as Kathy is one of the walking wounded. She is everything that Behrani is not: driven by her emotions, unable to act, overcome and unable to get passed her recent divorce, really a mass of raw exposed nerve endings. Kathy doesn't even have the wherewithal to take advantage of her beauty and her natural allure. She is so unaware, stripped of all confidence that she is a victim of her beauty.
"The House of Sand and Fog" is a gorgeous film to look at and Perelman uses the Northern California locales as a physical manifestation of his characters emotional state: densely foggy, bone chilling cold when emotions are in upheaval and difficult to read and brightly sunlight when things are straightforward and clear, which is not much of the time.
Don't visit "The House of Sand and Fog" looking for a surgically precise world free of contradiction, you won't find it. Instead, you will find a world in conflict, a world full of compromise, a world heaving and erupting from the conflict of the have and the have-nots, the confident and prideful versus the tragically lost.
Movie Review: One of the best of 2003.
Summary: 5 Stars
HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG, directed by first-time filmmaker Vadim Perelman from a screenplay he helped adapt from an Andre Dubus novel, is a story of people who are only at conflict because they see their troubles and desperation as tantamount over those who oppose them. The fight in the film concerns a seaside house and what it represents to those who claim ownership over it.The movie establishes a conflict between its two main characters where neither side outweighs the other, and neither side is entirely wrong. Anti-American and racial sentiments fuel the conflict, and the film acknowledges that - but this isn't just a film about racism.
It's about characters whose very natures we come to understand. It, through its visuals and through the uniformly terrific ensemble of actors, also establishes a group of strong core characters, people that you empathize with so much that you cannot choose sides regarding the fight over the house.
But, because both sides are desperate and at an impasse, the entire film spirals, like a thriller, toward its tragic, nearly inevitable conclusion. (Certainly, in real life, things might not have turned out as bad as things did for these characters at the end, some might say. But the characters in HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG remain true to their natures, true to their flaws, so it ends the way that it does and feels right.)
Jennifer Connelly is terrific in this film. Ron Eldard, playing a character central to the dark turn the film takes, is impressive, making his character so despicable that you hate him, knowing the conclusions he'll jump to before he does. (The last film that generated this sort of response from me was A SIMPLE PLAN, where you could feel that the characters were going to screw up - yet you couldn't help but watch them do it.)
Ben Kingsley, who is British and yet is able to transform himself completely in every role, is absolutely amazing as Behrani. The layers of innate goodness, personal pride, potential for violence and paternal instinct necessary to make the character work are all on display here. Kingsley's work is always good, and HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG ranks among the best work he's ever done. The actors playing his wife and son in the film match Kingsley's brilliance in nearly every scene.
I'm amazed Vadim Perelman has never made a film before. This film is accomplished, sad and incredibly moving.
Movie Review: When a movie is more than a story
Summary: 5 Stars
HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG is one of those films that visualizes a fine novel, adds the luxuries of fine acting, atmospheric cinematography, and yet in the end the whole is much better than the sum of its parts. For those who have not read the book or seen Director Vadim Perelman's excellent adaptation I would refer you to the several excellent plot outlines supplied on the product page for this movie. Simply put, this is a story at whose core is a house whose ownership triggers reactions from everyone in the tale. The sensitivity of Dubus' novel and Perelman's adaptation lies in the way the similarities of each of the characters are essentially laid on a flat line of synergy. A house is bequeathed to girl who has nothing but a lineage claim to the structure which is usurped by the government in a technical error, sold at auction to an Iranian man living with his wife and son in a strange land without any of the amenities of his previous life as a dignitary in Iran. The middleman in this contested house is a deputy whose longing to leave his own life of complacency for a taste of passion he has never known. Everybody is basically needy, grasping for some semblance of security, meaning, and ownership. It all is built on sand and is as elusive as fog. Each is driven to ends thought inconceivable and yet there is finally a sense of just what it is to be an isolated human on this globe that can be unkind.Ben Kingsley surpasses past achievements as Behrani, a man of such bruised pride and longing for substance that he fosters his own descent into hopelessness. Jennifer Connelly once again proves that her spectrum of acting is ever-widening as she makes Kathy a credible victim with a crusted heart of forgiveness. Ron Eldard allows us to see inside his Deputy and feel his longings even though we may not side with his choices. Iranian actress Shohreh Agdashloo is powerful as the fully realized wife for Behrani and her responses to all of the incidents are heart-wrenchingly beautiful. Young Jonathan Ahdout is unforgettable as Behrani's son. Walking out of this film the audience is stunned not only by the ending, but also by the realization of how fragile we all are as global neighbors and how that in the end gestures of kindness will be all that will allow us to survive. You cannot ask more from a film than this.
Movie Review: The best picture that wasn't.
Summary: 5 Stars
There are no hard and fast rules for the Oscar race. As the Pirates of the Caribbean would say, "they're more like guidelines, really." However, the one guideline that comes closest to a rule is that powerfully affecting cinematic tragedy very rarely gets nominated for best picture (and no, Titanic doesn't count). With this firmly in mind, it's a wonder Mystic River was nominated, but it is no surprise that House of Sand and Fog wasn't.Which is disheartening, since it is the greatest kind of tragedy. The kind that piles misfourtune upon misfortune, heartbreak on heartbreak, yet manages to affirm that yes, even when life is shattered by unbearable pain and loss, it's worth it to pick up the pieces and go on living.Telling here who learns this lesson and who does not would ruin much of the impact of the movie, but it would not be giving anything away to say that much of its impact comes from the acting. Ben Kingsley is an explanation in himself, legend that he is, and Jennifer Conelly is an actress of no small talent, but their performances in this film are especially worthy. Connely plays Kathy Niccolo, a recovering addict who has inherited her father's house and manages to lose it in eight months over a tax she does not owe, but that she does nothing about. Kingsley is Massoud Behrani, an expat Iranian colonel who immediately snaps the house up so as to give his family a better life. The film revolves mainly around Kathy's battle to get her house back from Behrani, in which she is helped (and hindered) by a police officer (Ron Eldard) who's own life is slowly falling apart, and who sees Kathy as his way out.The only path towards resolution is for these people to change who they are, and the tragedy begins when they cannot. Even when one person moves towards resolving things, another knocks things back off course, until none of them can turn back. Even Behrani's wife (played by the amazing Shohreh Agdashloo) is an accessory, by her quiet acceptance of her role as the woman whose job it is to submit to her husband.This film is an honest, gutwrenching story of the strong made weak and the weak given strength. It may not have been nominated by the academy, but for me, House of Sand and Fog is the Best Picture of 2003.Movie Review: If you like a happy ending, this movie is not for you
Summary: 5 Stars
I would have preferred a happy ending myself. 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...