Movie Reviews

House of Sand and Fog reminded me a little bit of a Greek tragedy. The two main characters are generally normal, moral people, working to get by, but mostly happy with what they've got. Each seems to suffer, however, from a nagging character flaw that in the end brings them to a tragic conclusion.

Jennifer Connelly plays Kathy, a young woman who's father recently passed away and left her the house that they lived in together. Obviously depressed due to her recent loss, she seems completely unmotivated about doing anything with her home, including paying its taxes. Soon, she finds herself evicted and locked out of the only home she's ever lived in. Obtaining the help of a lawyer, she remains certain that her eviction was a clerical mistake, and resolves that she'll be back at her home in short time.

Ben Kingsley plays Behrani, a former Iranian military general who came to the U.S. with his wife and son to start a new life, only to find it nearly impossible to sustain the sort of high-living that they used to enjoy in Iran. Forced to give up their very fancy apartment, Behrani places a bid on an auction for Kathy's former house and wins. He intends to fix the place up with some repairs and sell it later to make a profit.

The conflict here, obviously, is that Behrani now legally owns the home, but Kathy has a strong emotional attachment to it, and is certain she will be able to get it back. The house is, in a way, all that either of the two characters really have in their lives. It's over a third of the way into the film before these two characters first meet, and up to that point we get to know these characters and their respective flaws that will come into play later on. Behrani truly loves his family and wants to provide for them as best as he can, but his pride comes across as excessive. Kathy simply wants her house back, but she is impulsive about the way that she goes about it, much to the detriment of her plight. She also hooks up with a loner policeman whose overeagerness to help her only gets her into more trouble.

It all sounds a little dry, this dispute over the ownership of a house, but it's a really fascinating backdrop to the foreground of these two characters. Connelly and Kingsley are excellent in their roles. It's just a touch difficult to accept Jennifer Connelly as the run-down house-cleaner/maid that she plays, but she still does a great job. Ben Kingsley's character is mostly a man of few words, but it's incredible how expressive he can be.

House of Sand and Fog is certainly not a happy film. But watching it -- and other films like it -- is the kind of experience that makes you appreciate how fragile your own life and everything in it can be.