Imagine William Shakespeare decided to write a lengthy tragedy about the worst debacle in real estate history. THAT is how I can best describe “House of Sand and Fog.”
“House of Sand and Fog” is about two souls searching for stability. One is an abandoned woman who is evicted from her home by the county for non-payment of $500 in business taxes; however, the woman, named Kathy, played by Oscar® winning beauty Jennifer Connelly, never owned a business, knowing the county made a mistake.
Before she has a chance to hit the county with a lawyer, Kathy’s house is bought by Colonel Behrani, played by Academy Award® winner Ben Kingsley (Gandhi), a middle eastern man who has feed Iran with his family, and who is now an American citizen. The purchase of the home is Behrani’s first step to elevating his family back to the wealth and lifestyle they were accustomed to back in Iran.
Of course, everything goes from bad to worse, Kathy is left no legal recourse, unless Behrani agrees to rescind the sale of the home with the county. Kathy’s boyfriend, a deputy sheriff, goes over and threatens him, there’s kidnappings involved, wrongful death, adultery, all the ingredients of a snoozer of a Shakespeare tragedy.
The story was simply a real estate transaction gone bad, and a county making a paperwork mistake. What made the movie interesting was both Kathy and Behrani’s personal stories, even though the writing could have gone a little more into their backgrounds.
Connelly and Kingsley were on the top of their game. These two are heavy hitting dramatic and thoughtful actors and they prove it with this work. The other reason this DVD is worth the money is the fact that Connelly spends half the movie in jean shorts. Awesome. She is beautiful and one of the best actresses of my age group, if not THE best. She and Kingsley made the picture worth watching.
The worst part of the movie was the directing. Ukrainian first-time filmmaker Vadim Perelman called the shots and adapted the screenplay. His style was extremely long edits and a focus on “fog” as a theme, even though the symbolism was lost on me. In fact, I didn’t quite understand the title altogether. Perelman definitely loves to over emphasize the picture’s tragic third act, making the movie overall feel very long.
Overall, I think those who enjoy heavy drama and good acting will enjoy this picture, but be warned. It is very depressing and you should grab a pillow. Connelly has a sex scene though, so you can count the endless minutes of screentime going by until she gets naked. Again…she’s awesome.
Even though it’s not the best or most gripping movie I’ve ever seen, I’m pleased I bought the disc.
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