House of Sand and Fog (2003)

I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Dark story of two tragic characters and a catalyst for disaster. I don't think that many of the posters on the site recognized that the two men in the movie, Lester and Behrani are actually bookends to some degree because they seem to be narcissists who want their own way, regardless. Lester throws away his wife and kids in order to get the woman he wants (at least for the time being) and Behrani strikes his wife when she dares question the ethics of selling a home for three times what he paid for it. Both men rely heavily on the appearance of power, and dare anyone to get in their way. They will not even listen to their wives or girlfriend, as they think they know best. Behrani is the wiser one, as he knows that power doesn't only come from the firearm carried, but from a brave heart. Everyone in the story underestimates the other and judges on appearances alone. Behrani sees Kathy simply as a reckless and overly emotional woman, without realizing that she has suffered a loss and is combating alcoholism. Kathy and Lester see an immigrant who takes advantage of a situation to jack up prices, when Behrani just wants to restore his family to their previous great fortune. Behrani realizes too late that appearances and money mean nothing when your own child is lost. Behrani, the narcissist, will cause the death of his own wife rather than admit his failures in protecting their child. Lester realizes, too late, that 'having the eyes of a child' as Behrani says, will cause you to throw everything away for an uncertain future. All are headstrong characters on a road to destruction in order to get what they want. Kathy sits perched, like a succubus, high above the tragic action.Is she a victim or a villain? The only wrong note in the film was how Behrani's wife would climb the outdoor steps in her doped up state? Otherwise a dark but thought provoking film, similar to American Beauty in its depiction of the dark side of the American Dream, and the tragedy of not truly understanding, but believing that you do.

'House of Sand and Fog' is a very depressing film that revolves around a young troubled woman named Kathy and a down on their luck family of immigrants, the Behranis. The conflict between them arises out of a mistake on the part of the County and the tax department which end up having devastating consequences on the lives of these people.I think one of the main themes that gets explored in the film and what I connected with is how and the extent to which a sense of honour and self respect can drive a person's behaviour and make him/her stubborn. Kathy refuses to reveal her divorce and her sorry financial condition to her family because of this self respect. The Behranis at least at the initial stage of the film are putting on this facade of extravagance because of this self respect and because of their need and urge to not lose their honour in the eyes of society. The Behrani's had come to America with an idea of what the American Dream was about. The initial part of their life in America was spent in affluence and luxury. But even after their lives took a bad turn in a financial way, they feel the need to keep up this disguise of being a happy, well-to-do 'American' family. So much so that when Massoud tells his wife that they may have to move to a smaller, more ordinary house, it becomes a mentally shattering experience for her. In her eyes, moving to a new house, means going back to being an 'Arab' and relinquishing their new 'American'-ness. The sense of feeling like an outsider as an immigrant gets explored. On the other hand Kathy's problem lies in the shame of having undone the work that her departed father did on the house that she inherited. The film is an example of a director elevating a flawed premise through great storytelling. The tone that Vadim Perelman sets for the film is melodramatic. The dialogue is a bit theatrical. But Perelman remains consistent with that tone, so it didn't put me off. There are some great moments of visual flair like the scene where Massoud while he is checking out Kathy's apartment, notices a shining window in an otherwise pitch dark room, another great shot is the shot of Kathy in the bathtub with her reflection in the water. But what Perelman excels at the character scenes for the most part. He gets good performances out of the actors for the most.But the screenplay is a bit flawed in my mind which could be due to what's present in the book which the film is based on. The basic conflict that sets up the film is a bit unconvincing. Also the way the situations and circumstances constantly escalate in the last act of the film become increasingly bizarre, ridiculous and not believable. Perelman elevates this material by chewing the scenery a bit with his direction which in a way hides the weaknesses of the story.The acting for the most part is good. Ben Kingsley is powerful and commanding. Jennifer Connelly like she did in 'Requiem for a Dream' plays a broken character very well. Having said that there are a few scenes involving every actor that could come off as a bit fake, but I guess that goes along with the tone of the film. However Ron Eldard as the character of Lester was a bit boring. His characteristics, his mannerisms and his actions range from bland to really off-putting and maybe the writing has a lot to do with it.'House of Sand and Fog' is a depressing, heartbreaking film. It is not a great film in any sense of the word. It has a lot of screenplay and writing issues which may have their source in the original novel in terms of realism. It is a good exploration of pride and honour. But it's still certainly worth watching for the direction, the acting and the themes. Recommended.

Vadim Perelman's "House of Sand and Fog" looks at the way that goals can have terrible outcomes for all interested parties. When a woman loses her home for nonpayment of taxes, she stops at nothing to reclaim it, even as an Iranian refugee family buys it. What caught my eye is that both she and the new family have suffered adversity: her husband abandoned her, and the patriarch - a colonel in the old country - now works menial jobs. This house may have a beautiful view of the Pacific Ocean, but what happens over the course of the movie is anything beautiful. It is a REAL downer.While due credit should go to Jennifer Connelly as the original owner and Ben Kingsley as the patriarch, I think that a lot of credit should go to Shohreh Aghdashloo as the matriarch. Simply trying to hold her family together while still agonizing over the loss of their livelihood in the old country, she's a delicate but benevolent person. This is one of the most depressing movies out there, but I think that it's something that everyone should see.PS: The son mentions SAVAK. SAVAK was the Shah's security force from 1957 to 1979. Amnesty International reported that it had the worst human rights record on the planet.

NOTE: This film was recommended to me by Diane Rio for "Steve Pulaski Sees It." It took roughly half an hour before I could become completely immersed in Vadim Perelman's House of Sand and Fog, and after that, I was gone. Here's a powerful, deathly serious adult drama, a rarity in a world so concerned with comedies that feature the next viral gag or meme, or the next big romance film that becomes a national sensation. The demographic usually left out of the picture is those who want a competent, R-rated adult drama, and aside from the end of the year, when American audiences tend to get bombarded with new releases, there's rarely a time when that selected demographic gets its due (even this film came out in December 2003, amidst a busy awards season).It doesn't matter now, for House of Sand and Fog left a noticeable mark during its theatrical run and still finds itself a popular favorite on network TV. This is wonderful, because this is a uniquely great film; a film that takes a representation of something most of hold near and dear to us (our house/home), has two characters from two wildly different, troubled backgrounds pitted against the fight to claim the home, and features strong, eerie photography from one of the best cinematographers working today.The film focuses on a recovering drug addict named Kathy Nicolo (Jennifer Connelly), who lives alone in a small home in San Francisco. After ignoring numerous eviction notices believing they are part of a misunderstanding she cleared up several months ago, she is forcibly evicted from her home, which is to be auctioned off before she can even seek any kind of legal backing. As a result, a former Iranian Army Colonel named Massoud Behrani (Ben Kingsley), who fled Iran with his wife Nadereh (Shohreh Aghdashloo) and his son Esmail (Jonathan Ahdout), purchases the home for a fraction of its actual value with intent to add additions and improvements to triple his money on the home.This begins a bitter war between both Kathy and Behrani between what is moral and what is legally acceptable; Kathy enlists in the help of the town's Sheriff Deputy Lester Burton (Ron Eldard) to try and allows Kathy to purchase the house back, a house that has sentimental value for her and her family. Behrani, who has full legal right to do whatever he pleases with the home, doesn't see through Kathy's tearful side, and as a result, continues to go forward with his plans to renovate the home and totally transform it into a new house.House of Sand and Fog contrasts ability and inability quite beautifully throughout the course of its runtime, a nice and freeing two-hour and three minute long window for the film to carefully assemble its characters and their situations to try and build sympathy for them. Behrani's ability to purchase and completely redesign the home that Kathy doesn't have the ability to purchase is nicely communicated by way of methodically brewing tension between the two parties; it's tension that never becomes theatrical, nor does it ever lack any kind of narrative conviction. Connelly plays a disheveled character that has repeatedly been beaten by her personal choices, with her current situation simply serving as another grim reminder of her ostensible inability to do anything right, and Kingsley plays a devilishly interesting, enigmatic man of many talents and rewards who sees no sentimentality in Kathy's situation - only opportunity.At the center of the story is the passive home, where numerous characters do unto it what they like, but what it does to them is probably even more significant. This is a home with such promise and value that it remains the only thing our lead character Kathy stays alive for, it seems, and it's a home that could make Behrani, his wife, and his son more affluent and well-off in their current situation. Through looming exterior shots that show gray overcast skies and dense fog covering the landscapes, cinematographer Roger Deakins, arguably the best cinematographer working today, showcases the house's visceral effects by way of uncommonly elaborate closeups and candid shots of the home. No matter what screenwriters Perelman and Shawn Lawrence Otto illustrate for us by way of dialog or narrative progress, House of Sand and Fog's true meaning and significance is illustrated by the dark and beautiful balance crafted by Deakins.The sadness of the film's story rolls in like pea-soup fog itself, and we're left as viewers just as passive in a physical sense as the home itself, which has such an uncompromising effect on its two individuals that it's almost impossible to look past. Buoyed by two strong lead performances and a masterclass of cinematography, House of Sand and Fog works to illustrate the best tendencies of an adult drama, even coming around to make us feel significantly impacted by the end.Starring: Jennifer Connelly, Ben Kingsley, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Johnathan Ahdout, and Ron Erland. Directed by: Vadim Perelman.