Cheap House Of Sand And Fog / Anything Else (2-Pack) (DVD) (Jennifer Connelly, Ben Kingsley, Ron Eldard) (Vadim Perelman) Price

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Customer Reviews of House Of Sand And Fog / Anything Else (2-Pack)

Persian immigrant, Massoud Amir Behrani, (Ben Kingsley), is a former colonel in the late, deposed Iranian Shah's air force. He is an intelligent, well educated man, who used to be respected in his native country as a person of position, power, and means. Behrani's former life, with all his efforts to build it, seems like it was constructed on a sea of shifting sand. He came to America with his wife, son, and daughter with limited funds, and has spent almost all of his money setting his family up in the manner to which they had been accustomed. One of the primary reasons for doing this was to marry his daughter to a member of their former social class. He is now reduced to working as a common laborer by day and a convenience store manager by night in order to provide for his family. His co-workers are men he would have given alms to in his native land. Angry and humiliated at how far he has fallen, Behrani decides to invest his remaining funds in a house that has been put up for auction at a Sheriff's Sale, because the owner had not paid property taxes. He wants to make improvements on the house and sell it at a large profit, which he hopes will enable him to provide his family with their former lifestyle, and restore some of his lost dignity.

Kathy Niccolo is a disaster waiting to happen. She is a depressed, quietly self-destructive, recovering alcoholic and addict. Her house, in the California hills overlooking the Pacific, was bequeathed to her and her brother by her beloved father. It is all she has. She is adamant in her refusal to give-up her home because of a bureaucratic error. She was evicted for failing to pay a tax she never should have been charged in the first place. However, with her usual carelessness, she ignored a number of correspondences and warnings from the local tax board.

Sheriff Lester Burdon, (Ron Eldard), delivers the eviction papers to Kathy. She confides in him and he becomes obsessed with helping her fight for justice. Lester finds himself falling in love with Kathy, although he is married with two children and much personal baggage of his own.

The contested ownership of the house is the fulcrum of the intense plot. Two people compete with increasing desperation, for the title to one small bungalow, which has a different meaning for each of them. The tragedy lies in their inability to communicate and understand one another. Part of the movie's incredible power is the difficulty one has in deciding which party to side with, as both are at once sympathetic and worthy of censure.

The film is absolutely riveting and the tension builds to a surprising climax. To say that "The House of Sand and Fog" is not upbeat entertainment is a major understatement. So, although I give the movie my highest recommendation, I do so with reservations. Prospective viewers should be cautioned that the grim intensity of this piece will stay with you for a very long time. Definitely not a films to see twice.
JANA

A great story, amazing acting and gorgeous cinematography
There are films that you have to see because of the spectacle, films with epic battles, huge explosions, larger than life characters. Then there are movies you need to see because of the story, the acting and the cinematography.

House of sand and fog falls into the second category, and boy, does it deliver just that.

First time director Vadim Perelman chose a great story for his feature film debut, based on the book by André Dubus III. Kathy Nicolo (Connelly) is a broken woman, her husband has left her, she is deeply depressed, so much so that she barely leaves her bed, until one day when the County comes to evict her for failure to pay some business taxes. Kathy is confused, she never owned a business so there were no taxes to be paid. It's all a mistake.

Retired Iranian Colonel Behrani (Kingsley) lives a double life. For the rest of the Iranian-American community, he is a respected and wealthy man who just gave his daughter away in marriage. He lives in a luxurious apartment with his wife Nadi (Aghdashloo) and son Jonathan (Ahdout). But in order to pay for this lifestyle he holds two jobs, one on a road gang and another as a clerk on a convenience store.

One day, Behrani comes across a newspaper ad informing of the auction of Kathy's home. He sees his opportunity to make a huge profit by buying it cheap and then re-selling it at market price. This way he can finally return to his former life and quit his jobs.

Kathy's lawyer (Fisher) finds out that the County made a mistake and shouldn't have place the house on auction, but by then it's too late as Behrani has already bought it. They try to convince him to re-sell the house to County, but he just won't do it.

What follows is the dramatic sequence of events triggered both by Behrani's stubborness and Kathy's lack of self control. And while it's not a 'twist', I must say I did not see the ending coming.

Not everything is perfect in this movie, though. First of all it is extremely slow. Excruciatingly so at points. At one point, I just wanted to have something happen in the movie, but then, things got into motion and rolled until the very end. There's also a side story with Lester, Ron Eldard's character after he leaves his wife and family for Kathy that I thought brought nothing to the story.

The acting simply takes this film to the next level. Connelly, Kingsley and Aghdashloo just disappear into their roles and do some of the best acting of 2003. Connelly makes the viewer both despise and feel sorry for Kathy and all her predicaments. Kingsley is amazing, once more, as the retired Colonel. He transformed himself into an Iranian National, and apparently, took very well to learning their language, even more than what was needed for the part. Aghdashloo brings beauty and frailness to the film. Her face and her expressions are so touching that you just want to go help her.

Then there's the cinematography. The film is beautifully shot, especially the inter-scene shots of the San Francisco Bay. The film was shot by Roger Deakins, who's also worked on A beautiful mind and O brother, where art thou?, and David Stockton.

Both Kingsley and Aghdashloo were nominated for their amazing performances, and Connelly should have been included also, but quite probably was left out by Keisha Castle-Hughes.