Rating: 
Summary: Perhaps 15 minutes too long
Review: An very over-rated film is "house of Sand and Fog". 90% predictable, and runs for too long. It really didn't need the amount of time given to present the story. Acting was fine, but the story just lacked the spark I was expecting based on the positive reviews.Rent it.
Rating: 
Summary: Wow! Riveting and Sad!
Review: This film is a must-see on every count. Magnificent cinematography and a gripping, tragic plot worthy of a Thomas Hardy novel.
Jennifer Connelly is a vaporish, fairly inert woman who enlists a dirtbag deputy sheriff to help her try and recover a house lost in a tax sale. Ben Kingsley is an Iranian exile who is desperately working to retain his dignity and finances after buying the house. The bitter conflict will leave you rooting for Kingsley, who delivers the performance of his career. Is this the same brilliant actor who was credible as both Ghandi and Dr. Watson in previous roles? You bet! The cinematography is unparalleled! The editing is crisp and well-timed. The grief-charged plot will hold you rivited and horrified as the characters race down the low road in high gear.
One of the absolute best films in a year of fine films.
Rating:
Summary: great performances do not a great film make
Review: Familial death and duty are mystical presences in our lives. As we become adults, raise families, and live in homes, we learn to deal with the ever-increasing likelihood of loss. Depressed following the death of her father, and the abandonment by her husband, Kathy (played by Jennifer Connely, Requiem For A Dream, A Beautiful Mind) waits too long to save the only tether grounding her wavering soul to the shore below. Discovering her error too late, she is left at the mercy of a man trying to make a life for himself in America, after fleeing Iran with his wife and son. Ben Kingsley(Gandhi, Schindler's List) plays Amir Behrani, a forward-thinking man, full of folly. He places value of objects over people, treating the women in his life like dolls to sit in their houses, look pretty, remain obedient, and never argue. Amir's staunch drive to make a success in his new country leads him into a world where objectification, even to things of high emotional content, can lead to obscurity. Mistakes are easy to make when one is clouded by too small a vision. Based on the novel of the same name, House of Sand And Fog is beautifully shot, intensely scored, and masterfully acted by Kingsley, Connely, and Shohreh Angdashloo (who plays Mrs. Behrani with delicious subtlety). They all deserve Academy nods. As a film, it is flawed by a lackluster story, which is as manipulative as such yarns as The Bridges of Madison County, and Steel Magnolias. Unlike the latter, it does not make up for such heart-tugging with clever adaptations of story. There are too many cheats at Connely's situation. The choice of location for the house does not resonate as powerfully as it should. The character of Lester (Ron Eldard, Deep Impact) is a wasteland of cheap exposition and romantic digression. The film does not deserve its three beacons of brilliance. We see plenty of fog, which has many uses in story and mise-en-scene. Where though, is the sand? Forgotten, along with the foundation that would have made this film one of 2003's best. 6/10*, recommended for the aforementioned performances. You can wait for the DVD on this one.
Rating: 
Summary: The best picture that wasn't.
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Haunted house
Review: Beautiful and almost unbearable, "House of Sand and Fog" rises on the strengths of Ben Kingsley's and Shohreh Aghdashloo's performances as an exiled Iranian couple. The DVD, due March 30, ably conveys the visual evocation of claustrophobia and dread against which the actors perform their magic. The Dolby Digital audio is just good enough, based on a test disc. Best supporting feature: Aghdashloo's audition tape, which indicates her performance arrived fully formed. The tape covers her key scenes in a wrenching 6 minutes.
Rating:
Summary: A Must See Film
Review: "House of Sand and Fog" is possibly the best film that I have seen in the past 12 months. I unreservedly recommend it to all. The essence of the film is that Kath (Jennifer Connelly) owns a pleasant house located on the northern Californian coast. However, there is a mix up with taxes such that she is levied a $500 tax bill she should never have received. Yet to make matters worse, her personality is such that she rarely, if ever, opens mail and thus inadvertently ignores numerous reminder messages. Eventually, the house is sold from under her to an Iranian Colonel (Ben Kingsley) who has emigrated to America with his family to avoid retribution from the Ayatollahs. He buys the house for about a quarter of its true value and then commences proceedings to on sell the house for a tidy profit. With both parties claiming ownership, a series of events unfolds that seems to spiral ever downward. The film's ending is tragic and reminded me in some ways of Shakespeare's King Lear where trauma is piled upon trauma. Certainly, do not see this film as an opportunity for light escape. But do see this film for its enthralling plot and its totally plausible characters. It is an injustice that this film has received so few Oscar nominations.
Rating:
Summary: One of the Best Movies of 2003
Review: "House of Sand and Fog" sounds like it would be a haunted house movie with ghosts and zombies, but it's a very deep drama that pulls you in and doesn't let go. Kathy (goddess Jennifer Connelly) was a recovering alcoholic whose house was evicted since she didn't pay her taxes. If only she checked her mail! Behrani (Ben Kingsley) was an Iranian colonel who fled to America in search of a better life for his family. With so many opportunities in the United States, the ex-colonel struggled with his road construction and sales clerk jobs. Since Kathy's house was evicted, it went up for auction and Behrani purchased the home for a low price. Thinking that the new bungalow with its ocean view would be a great place to start again, Kathy fights to regain her home. Once a bird flies away, there is no more life. The movie is very powerful and you really can't choose a side. They both NEED the home. For real, this movie will leave you shocked and it will surprise you. I truly believe it was robbed of numerous award nominations. It is extremely powerful and it's one of the best movies I've seen.
Rating:
Summary: Pure, Refined Emotion
Review: Rarely does a movie capture the full power of tragedy, but "House of Sand and Fog" is an excellent example of the emotional strength that a movie can wield. There are no heroes or villains. There is no one on whom the viewer can pin full responsibility. The characters are all relatively good people, but like everyone, they are sometimes jealous, sometimes spiteful, or over-zealous or excessively self-centered. Maybe this is why the story is so effective at striking close to the viewer's heart: it is simply a story of normal people, struggling to preserve their way of life in the face of forces beyond control.
While it soon becomes clear that there will be no happy ending, the conclusion is truly devastating. The last twenty minutes of the movie are an accelerating, inevitable, downward spiral towards an ending as crushingly well-crafted as any literary tragedy I have ever read. I highly recommend this movie, but be prepared; it is seriously cathartic, so be ready for your emotions to be tweaked.
Rating: 
Summary: not entertainment
Review: everyone raved about this movie, so my dad dragged my mom and i along. i always trust his judgement in movies, but this one will forever make me think twice. if you have ever had a loved one die tragically, DO NOT see this movie. i had to leave the theater because it was so graphic and brought up raw emotions that i am trying to get over.
my grandma once told me that she goes to movies to be entertained, and i thought that is a bit shallow. it is always good to go to movies that make you think! then i saw house of sand and fog. this was the hardest movie that i've ever had to watch and i can't think of anyone that i would reccommend it to. i literally cannot understand why anyone liked this movie. i'll give it to the actors, but that could never get me back to the theaters.
if you want to see a good current film, check out in america or monster. both will make you think and leave you a bit disheartened, but it is nothing that you can't handle. house of sand and fog on the other hand... i was literally depressed for two days!
Rating:
Summary: A house of dreams, pride, pain, lust and dangerous morality
Review: It hovers over the San Francisco coastline, tucked in the hills at the end of the road, more a bungalow than family home. Shrouded in fog, eroded by years of average upkeep, it's the kind of place that swells when it rains. When former Iranian Col. Massoud Behrani (Ben Kingsley) moves in, it's initially for the shortest of stays - he bought the house in an auction, and hopes to resell it for quadruple its value. And yet - it reminds him of his old vacation home on the Caspian Sea, where he cut down the trees to get a view of the water. He may keep it for the summer and let his son skateboard the neighborhood, and his wife, Nadi (Shohreh Agdashloo), reawaken after years of struggle and bitterness. What's so honorable about Vadim Perelman's "The House of Sand and Fog" is how it views this family and its connection to the house despite it being sold in the auction after it was illegally taken away from its previous owner, recovering drug addict Kathy Nicolo (Jennifer Connelly), in a tax dispute. The law is no longer on Kathy's side, but our sympathy is: Her father left the house for her and her new husband, who left himself one morning. And yet the movie, based on Andre Dubus III equally strong novel, treats both parties as it should: Fragile, wounded units, clinging to a house neither can definitively call home, the last piece of the American dream still available to them. If "Sand and Fog" embraces the flaws of these characters - both Col. Behrani and Kathy are intractable, explosive personalities, more doomed by every white lie they tell, every corner they round off - it tacitly indicts the American values that invest more in property than self, and the movie's representation of "law," a married cop named Lester (Ron Eldard) who takes up Kathy's cause, as well as her bed. Lester and Kathy meet on the morning she's evicted, and later, as Kathy sifts through her remaining stuff at a storage shed, there's Lester, just checking in, because it's on his way. A literate, passive bully, Lester is a hero looking for a pretty damsel; the gorgeously wrecked Kathy, with her no brand smokes and depressed humor, fits the bill. In turn, Lester is that spark of indignity Kathy needs to challenge Col. Behrani for her old home. Behrani, the exiled militant, is one of the more complex characters of recent cinema, and Kingsley fiercely brings him dimension. Proud to a fault, with dark crevices of anger and guilt over the two dissatisfied women in his life (wife and daughter, both of whom remember the cozy military life in Iran) Behrani works two menial jobs just to keep afloat in an apartment he can barely afford. Then the house becomes available. Its resale represents his son's college money, the companionship of his wife. Kingsley, in what will probably be the last powerhouse performance of his career, slowly burns as Kathy keeps popping up, as Lester taps old photos on the wall in intimidation. Agdashloo, an Iranian exile herself, is equally good as the (exquisitely) beautiful, weak-willed companion who was never meant to leave home. Perelman, a Russian, is a competent first-time director; "Sand and Fog" is not exactly a visual feast, but a scene featuring Kathy in her old bathtub is among the best of the year. Perelman pushes the gas pedal too often on James Horner's musical score - it intrudes in two of Kingsley's gut-wrenching moments - and, in writing the screenplay, he fudges a bit on Dubus' original ending for Kathy. But he retains the shocking turn of events that ruin Behrani's family. As in the book, the house itself is no prize, and more a symbol to fill the void of the character's lives. Kathy - played by Connelly as a muted, strung out soul along for the ride, perfectly willing to end it violently - represents that American segment of society so immune to the outside world of ambition and commerce that, eventually, its fruits are ripped away. Behrani, meanwhile, never seems to obtain the measure of material success his military background demands, nor the humility needed for an immigrant to do well in white-collar business. The American mindset revolves around contrition and redemption; Behrani, from a culture steeped in patriarchy and rock-ribbed fortitude, doesn't know the concept. Yet, the movie clearly argues Lester's brand of "moral" justice blocks the way of compromise. As much as we'd like to, we cannot merely "wish" the right thing so. And when Lester turns up the heat, he does so with a moral certitude that bleeds into tragedy.
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