FemaleFirst.co.uk: DVD: House Of Sand And Fog [DVD] [2004]

House Of Sand And Fog [DVD] [2004]
enlarge	Director: Vadim Perelman Actors: Jennifer Connelly, Ben Kingsley, Ron Eldard, Frances Fisher, Kim Dickens Studio: Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainm Category: DVD List Price: ~~£14.99~~ Buy New: £3.86 as of 21/11/2009 18:19 GMT details You Save: £11.13 (74%) New (10) Used (5) Collectible (1) from £2.31 Seller: findprice Rating: 25 reviews Sales Rank: 17722 Format: PAL Languages: English (Original Language), Persian (Original Language) Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over Region: 2 Discs: 1 Number Of Discs: 1 Running Time: 121 Minutes Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2 Dimensions (in): 7.3 x 5.4 x 0.6 EAN: 5017188813440 ASIN: B00022VM9Y Theatrical Release Date: December 26, 2003 Release Date: August 23, 2004 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days


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Customer Reviews: Showing reviews 1-5 of 25 1 2 3 4 5 Next » Lives of desperation collide August 1, 2004 Joseph Haschka (Glendale, CA USA) 24 out of 24 found this review helpful Penn, Crowe, Murray, Hopkins and the rest that might think they deserved the Best Actor Oscar for the 2003 film year. Forget it. The most deserving of that honor, Ben Kingsley, is right here in THE HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG, a story of three lives that collide like a 3-way train wreck.pKingsley is Massoud Amir Behrani, a former colonel in the service of the Iranian Shah. Forced to flee the country after the fall of the monarch, Behrani now works two jobs - convenience store clerk by night and road maintenance worker by day - to try and stem the slow drain of his savings being spent on the expensive lifestyle that his wife Nadi (Shohreh Aghdashloo) is used to. Perusing the paper, he sees an moneymaking opportunity in the public auction of a house confiscated by the county to pay back taxes. Massoud intends to buy the place on the cheap, fix it up, and sell it at the going market rate. Behrani is a proud man determined to regain his self-respect and the Good Life for his family. By maintaining a facade of affluence, he's already managed to marry his daughter off to another wealthy and respectable Iranian emigre. Now, he needs to put his son Esmail (Jonathan Ahdout) through college. pUnfortunately, the home is owned by Kathy Nicolo (Jennifer Connelly), who inherited it from her father eight months previous. Kathy is a recovering alcoholic, who failed to deal with the county bureaucracy when she had the chance, and now it's too late to stop the sale. She's evicted, has nowhere to go, no friends, no nearby family, no money, and is truly on the edge.pInto this volatile mix comes Lester Burdon (Ron Eldard), who's the police deputy assigned the uncomfortable task of tossing Nicolo into the street. Burdened by a marriage gone bad, Lester is seduced by Kathy's beauty and vulnerability, and he becomes her champion to the exclusion of common sense and professionalism. (With men, what else is new?)pBurdon aside, who's basically a fool guided by his gonads, the viewer will have to decide whom to back - Massoud or Kathy - because this intelligently scripted film doesn't favor one over the other even as the confrontation escalates beyond all bounds of rationality. There's no Hero or Villain. But for good fortune and good toilet training, you or I could be in either position.pIn emotional intensity, even Sean Penn's performance in MYSTIC RIVER can't match Kingsley's here. There's a scene towards the end in a local hospital that'll knock your socks off, and for which alone Kingsley deserved Best Actor.pHOUSE OF SAND AND FOG was one of the very best films of 2003, and deserved an Oscar nomination for Best Picture. Tragic and moving September 8, 2004 dragondrums (Ingleby Barwick, United Kingdom) 20 out of 21 found this review helpful House of Sand and fog is one of the most moving films of recent times. Ben Kingsley and Shohreh Aghdashloo should surely have won the oscars for their brilliant portrayal of Colonel Massoud Amir Behrani and his wife Nadi exiled in America after the fall of the Iranian Shah. Colonel Behrani buys a home at auction at a knock down price in the hope of being able to make a profit and better his family's life. He is unaware that the house has been wrongly confiscated from Kathy Nicolo (Jennifer Connolly), a fragile recovering alcoholic who is determined to regain her home.brWhen Kathy becomes romantically involved with Lester, the policeman who originally helped evict her, things take a turn for the worse. In an effort to help her, Lester loses sight of his professionalism and the situation becomes increasingly ugly as the Behranis' are threatened and Kathy starts to lose a grip of her sanity.brThe three main characters are all played with such skill and sensitivity that it is impossible to take sides or judge who is in the right. One can only feel deepest sympathy for all of them and fear for the outcome.brThis is a very emotional film, certainly not mainstream but well worth watching. Just make sure you have tissues handy. A profound and moving film May 1, 2006 D. Maceoin (UK) 12 out of 13 found this review helpful I feel sad for the person who didn't enjoy this magnificent, subtle film. It's worth watching for Kingsley's performance alone, a performance that is, I think, the best of his career, alongside his role in Pascali's Island. The remarkable thing is how convincing he is as a certain type of old-school Iranian. The story is not just about his and his wife's particular dilemma, but about exile and the fate of the immigrant (cf. the novel, The Kite Runner). The ending must be one of the finest in cinema. There are no thrills, little humour, or any of the usual drives for such a tale, yet it pulls the viewer along effortlessly right to the climax/anticlimax. A definnite must-watch. House of Ruined Dreams May 6, 2004 prisrob (New EnglandUSA) 15 out of 17 found this review helpful Moving, sad and enthralling movie is "The House of Sand and Fog".brAndre Dubois wrote the book and received over 100 offers for the movie rights. The movie does the book justice. The photography isbrsuperb and the sand and fog surround the house and the movie. Jennifer Connelly follows up her Academy Award performance in another dark film- she is brilliant and believable. Ben Kingsley as always is so "right on" in his interpretation of his character. He is a fomer military man in the Iraq Army, and is ramrod straight and honest. He does not flinch, not once.brJennifer Connelly is removed from her family home for not paying a tax that turns out to be a mistake. Jennifer, it sems has given up drinking and is depressed and never opens her mail. Thus she never sees the bill. Once removed from her home, she is befriended by a local policeman who is lonely and feels sorry for her. This develops into a romance- the man is married and has children and all these lives become intertwined with despair and depression. pInto this morass comes Ben Kingsley looking for a home to buy, to repair and sell at a premium. He and his family are living beyond their means- he is working at two jobs to keep up the facade. His plan is to move to the house while they are fixing it up and relieving himself of the stress of the bills and the many hours of work. He finds the ad for this home for sale at a very large discount- buys the home and then all hell breaks loose. The juxtaposition of his family heirlooms, gold and silver and glass in a seaside cottage gives the movie an unearthly feel. pJennifer and her policeman try to get the home back but their plans fall apart. Jennfier starts to slide down that ugly black hole, and all the lives involved fall apart. pThis is a breath-takingly beautiful movie- so well acted it is real. Academy Award performances abound in this movie. This is not a movie for the squeamish- blood and suspense are plentiful. Recommended highly! prisrob Wow, what a film! January 28, 2006 4 out of 4 found this review helpful An emotional rollercoaster, brilliantly acted and very very different from the norm. I#x27;ve recommended this to every sensible intelligent person I know! Showing reviews 1-5 of 25 1 2 3 4 5 Next »

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