Flak Magazine: Review of House of Sand and Fog, 01.16.04

The suspense builds from all sides in House of Sand and Fog. Events pile up to their wrenching conclusion with a slow, terrible inevitability. Kathy Nicolo (Jennifer Connelly) is a young recovering alcoholic who lives in a house built for her by her father, barely supporting herself as a housekeeper. When she is unable, in more ways than one, to rectify a clerical error, she is evicted. She's further outraged when she learns that the house has already been sold to Massoud Behrani (Ben Kingsley) and his family. Massoud, a retired Iranian colonel forced to leave his homeland, can only find menial work with a construction crew to support his family — he goes from riches to rags by immigrating. In an attempt to reclaim some semblance of his former lifestyle and salvage some of his pride, he buys Kathy's house cheap at auction with the intention of selling it at a profit. Add to the mix Lester Burton (Ron Eldard), an unstable (and married) local deputy who falls for Kathy, and the conflict escalates quickly, with seemingly inconsequential details triggering horrible consequences.

The meaning of the title quickly becomes apparent. Massoud wants to recreate the status-symbol mansion he once had on the shores of the Caspian Sea, although his attempts to remodel the new house to match his old one by adding a terrace to the roof come off as ridiculous and a little pathetic — instead of an ocean view, the contested cottage has a view of some neighboring homes crossed through with power lines. Kathy, on the other hand, is in a haze of anxiety and melancholy so deep that she, a housekeeper, can't even bring herself to take care of the place while she lives in it.

Viewers hung up on the film's legal maneuvering have claimed that it's unrealistic for the house to have been resold so quickly, or for the law to be so difficult for Kathy to work through. But in a film like House of Sand and Fog, the details of the characters matter far more than the details of the plot. What is important is that we believe the characters, and, thanks to the excellent script by Shawn Otto and director Vadim Perelman and some brilliant acting, every major character is not just believable but sympathetic. Kingsley and Connelly in particular capture both the strengths and vulnerabilities of their characters so skillfully that, though at first your favor oscillates between the two, by the end it's nearly impossible to make a clear-cut moral judgment.

Eldard and Shohreh Agadashloo, as Massoud's wife Nadi, are also not to be overlooked. Eldard lends nuance to a character that could just as easily have been a cliché, and Agadashloo gives her largely submissive role a touch of dignity and grace amidst the tragedy.

Both Andre Dubus III's novel, published in 2000, and its film adaptation have been taken to represent the contradictory state of the American dream for both immigrants and residents at the end of the 20th century. The movie is more universal than this, looking into what lies at the core of so many conflicts: the power of incompatible illusions with little basis in reality to override compassion and sympathy in favor of single-minded hatred. In a year of Hollywood playing it safe, with numerous sequels and formulaic star vehicles, a mature, intriguing drama like House of Sand and Fog is a welcome surprise, and a fine debut for Perelman.

— Ryan Vu (traxus4420@hotmail.com)