Rating: 
Summary: Simply superb
Review: What would one expect from to Oscar-winning performers in one film? If directed by Vadim Perelman, something amazing no doubt, but one does not expect the magnitude of this film. Despite a wholly depressing story, this film works wonders in our minds and hearts and will further engrave Kingsley and Connelly in the pantheon of the best actors and actresses in Hollywood.(Don't worry, this isn't a spoiler review, what I am relaying is on the cover of the box and occurs in the first few minutes.)
Kingsley portrays an Irani who fled from his home after the Ayatollah came to power. He is constantly striving to reclaim the lost glory of his military career and his beautiful home on the Caspian Sea. It brought a view hindered by trees until one day he has them cut down. Could that possibly clue us in to his mind and his possible future? Connelly is also now a refugee, but in her own country and town. Her husband gone, she discovers that she owes a paltry sum in business taxes and due to her non-payment, the government takes and sells her house. Destitute and alone, she reverts into some child-like state, needing the affections and support of a cop in a mid-life crisis. What will she need to do in order to get her house back? I will stop with the plot description there, and add that any semblance of what this movie is about can be disgarded right away. There is no easy way to pin down this film, as it is a beautifully shot cinematic triumph about home, family, and the soul. The message is nothing short of heart-breaking, yet an important lesson to be learned by those who have bought into our culture of buying the bigger toys. SUVs, sneakers with lights, fancy designer clothes, medically altered bodies, what do they all add up to in the end? What drives us in our pursuit to be the neighbor with the biggest SUV on our block? Is the American dream simply that, a pipe dream? More importantly, what are the consequences of our actions? What will the search for perfection bring? In the end, do our possessions even matter? It is a multi-layered cinematic gem that needs to be seen by those in this generation of showing off and flashiness. This is the perfect film for this tidal wave of false idols and brand names. One cannot miss the poignant message of this movie. Film buffs should already own it, lovers of drama and superior acting should as well, and everyone else should screen it at least once for the important lessons it teaches us.
Rating: 
Summary: WOW!!!
Review: Great drama. Powerful, moving tale of two interesting, and mostly
likeable people who find themselves in conflict. Each find
strengths they did not know they possessed. Each discover flaws in their nature that ultimately lead to
disaster. How far would you go for the American dream? How much
would you be willing to sacrifice along the way? Watch as the
two main characters here are faced with such questions and forced
to confront their answers. Great acting all around. An ending
sure to shock.
Thanks and enjoy,
Tom
Rating:
Summary: Breathtaking Drama
Review: Jennifer Connelly and Ben Kingsley are awesome in this very dramatic film. This is one of the best dramas I've seen in the past 15 years. There isn't a character in the film to root for as you empathize with the two main characters who are conflicting with each other. A must see!
Rating: 
Summary: A different interpretation.
Review: Jeez, don't mean to break up the love fest over the 'victims' in the movie. I thought that the characters were well drawn and Ben was in top form. But, I could not sympathize with the girl. Hasn't she ever heard of consequences? The only thing I could see in the film was a self-absorbed girl in an unfortunate, but avoidable, circumstance being aided by a cop who should never have passed his oral boards, let alone a psych exam. Together they dismantle a strong and faithful family while being blissfully unaware of their consequences.
If a movie's purpose is to evoke strong emotion, this movie does it, but for all the wrong reasons. It seems to be another case of western 'civilization' clashing with 'other' beliefs. Hopefully such 'Amero-centric' thinking will finally meet its extinction when folks realize that there are no good guys vs. bad guys. We are all interconnected and bound to the same earth by the same emotions and dreams. Step away from the mirror America.
Rating:
Summary: HOUSE OF DREAD
Review: Dependent on the unlikely actions of several characters, "House of Sand and Fog" is a heavy-handed, utterly earnest excersize in contemporary tragedy. I understand that Jennifer Connely's character is supposed to be an average American whose life history remains obscure but her reason for being involved in a legal dispute over the ownership of a modest home is so unlikely it is rendered shallow. The cop who befriends Connely and slowly becomes psychotic due to a racist mentality is only a device to turn the lame story toward it's melodramatic resolution. It's certainly a watchable movie, even involving, Connely and Ben Kingsly as the compatriot in this legal dispute are excellent, but the platform plot too often sinks in the sand and gets lost in the fog.
Rating:
Summary: The Rights and Wrongs In Us All
Review: I had previously read the book, "House of Sand and Fog" and was passionately impressed. Needless to say I held high hopes for the movie and can honestly say I was not disappointed in any way. Jennifer Connelly plays, Kathy, a depressed hopeless woman who suffers loss after loss until she breaks. Sir Ben Kingsley gives a masterful performance as an Iranian man who has had all of his cultural wealth taken from him prior to arriving in the US. You are torn between rights and wrongs in this film and unlike most stories you are allowed to see two sides. Most stories thrive on good vs. evil, here you are unable to decide and the twists that occur leave you wishing you could help both parties. You will cry at the pride and at the despair of human beings facing choices that bind them for life. Brilliant!!
Rating:
Summary: One of 2003's most compelling tragedies
Review: House of Dread indeed. This film is an emotional rollercoaster--so be prepared--particularly the last hour, and shares the honors (with "21 Grams") as the most depressing Hollywood film of 2003. These two films are classic examples of Hollywood's ability to manipulate human emotions; whether they constitute art or not is another question. Kingsley and his wife give standout performances as Iranian immigrants and Jennifer Connelly's performance as a young recovered alcoholic is equally good. The San Francisco cinematography is also noteworthy. The story is a virtual nightmare of clashing egos and an unresolvable dilemma, which the various factions attempt to resolve before all descend into the film's horrific climax.
As much as anything, it is a film about prejudice against ethnic groups. It concerns a house purchased by Kingsley for his family,so that he and his family could live "the American Dream": a house which Connelly inherited and was evicted from for failure to pay taxes.One of the attempted mediators in the dilemma is Connelly's new- found cop boyfriend, who leaves an unhappy marriage and 2 young kids behind to be with her. He attempts to persuade Kingsley by power of argument (and also by blackmailing him by threatening to bring down the law on his immigrant status) that he has a moral imperative to sell the house back to the county for the price he paid for it, a rather absurd argument since Kingsley knows he can get 4 times as much for it by selling it himself. This is the crux of the dilemma. Connelly finally decompensates psychologically after her lawyer fails to resolve the issue and is taken into the home of her adversary who assumes the temporary role of surrogate father, where she proceeds with the
second of 2 suicide attempts. The rest of the film is the story of progressive psychological decompensation by all parties which results in the worst of all possible outcomes, as tragedies are wont to do. The film, with its harrowing conclusion, is on a par with several of the best popular Hollywood tragedies of the past several years: "21 Grams", "The Hours", or "In The Bedroom."
Rating:
Summary: Better than the book, anyway.
Review: House of Sand and Fog (Vadim Perelman, 2003) What happens when two Horatio Alger-style great American success stories end up in a head-on collision? Andre Dubus III attempted to address the question in the novel House of Sand and Fog. Vadim Perelman attempted to make Dubus III's attempt into a movie. While neither was successful, the movie did a much better job of it than the book did. Kathy (Oscar winner Jennifer Connelly [Phenomena, Dark City]) has been left by her husband, and is not in the best shape. When her house is seized for nonpayment of a bill that never existed in the first place, she's not too happy about it. While she's trying to get it back, the house is bought at a foreclosure sale by Colonel Behrani (Oscar winner Ben Kingsley [Sexy Beast, Suspect Zero]), an Iranian who had to flee the country with his family after the collapse of the Shah's regime. Kathy gets a well-meaning but unstable police officer (Ron Eldard [ER]) into the mix, and things start to go wrong fast. Where Perelman's film improves (mightily) over the book is in giving us more of the Horatio Alger sense of the story-that both of these people, who have been wronged by their respective governments, deserve to triumph in the end. He brings out the parallels between the two in ways the book never achieved (a more malicious reviewer might say "ways Dubus never even thought of"). Unfortunately, however, first-time director Perelman is not a Hitchcock, able to take mediocre source material and turn it into great film. He does the best he can, to be fair. Ben Kingsley's performance here is a mighty one and well worth your renting the film. The problem is that everything else here pales in comparison. None of the characters is much worth caring about (as in the book), the pace is glacial (as in the book), and the basic stupidity of some of the characters' actions is way too far beyond the pale to be believed (as in the book). Kingsley's performance is worth seeing. The rest of the movie can be safely dismissed as a very pretty piece of fluff. **
Rating:
Summary: Superb Film
Review: "House of Sand And Fog" is a very compelling movie released in 2003, starring Oscar winners Jennifer Connelly and Ben Kingsley. The plot is wonderfully adapted from the book version of the same name. It brilliantly combines two lives that later meet: a woman who's life is tumbling downward after having been evicted from her house and an Iranian family who buys that house only as an investment. The emotional impact is never held back for a moment, which continually builds as the struggles become more intense. Later, it becomes more than a film about a woman trying to move back into her house. Its unique chain of events keep audiences awaiting for what happens next. The Oscar-nominated original score wonderfully accompanies the scenery. Ben Kingsley and Shohreh Aghdashloo give wonderful Oscar nominated performances (Best Actor/ Best Supporting Actress). Their characters' passions and hardtimes are expressed beautifully. Kingsley proves that he's continually evolved as an actor through his entire career. Jennifer Connelly gives a heartpounding performance, especially through her character's life threatening struggles. All other actors also offer captivating performance. "House of Sand And Fog" is a powerful film that will continue to attract audiences. This offers an unforgettable viewing experience for everyone.
Rating:
Summary: Great Movie...Lousy ending
Review: Jennifer Connelly made me angry in this movie, but I guess that's the brillance of the film. Her character is down on her luck with no job, no money and bad credit to her name. Her only possession is a house she inherited from her dead father. That gets taken away from her and put up for auction when a County mistake forces her out of her home...a mistake she could have easily prevented had she been more proactive. In comes a handsome sherrif who pities her, falls in love with her and helps her. And in comes an Iraninan family escaping their doom in their homeland to start life anew in America. They become the owners of this house, and from there, the clash and downward spiral begins. The acting is brilliant on all sides, especially Ben Kingsley. Even Jennifer Connelly's character becomes despicably helpless who gained nothing from her interference and impatience. The unfortunate ending leaves a lose-lose situation on all sides. So this can be a somewhat disappointing film for folks not used to an uplifting resolution. A bit too slow-paced on the drama, but brilliant acting.
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