Jason C
Reviewer

      If the warm, carefree days of summer have put you into a spirit of joy and delight, one good dose of “House of Sand and Fog” will smash you down into the chasm of suicide and sadness in which this film seems to revel. Except for brilliant performances by Ben Kingsley and Shohreh Aghdashloo, there is nothing to smile about in this tragic tale.
 
      “House of Sand and Fog”, based upon the best-selling novel, tells a story of a house that, in and of itself, isn't really that special. It has an ocean view, but only from behind trees and power lines and only when its residents are seated on the roof. It has a beautiful location, across the street from a forest. But its white picket fence has faded, and the house itself seems only one step removed from squalor. Yet this very ordinary house has the power to send Kathy (Jennifer Connelly), a recovering alcoholic, over the edge to do everything she can to take it back from an Iranian couple (Kingsley and Aghdashloo).
 
      For the Iranian couple, the American Dream soon shatters into a nightmare as legal issues hurt their last chance at family success. In Iran, Kingsley was a high-profile colonel who lived in luxury and provided his two children the best of everything, including a lavish wedding that opens the film. But when the country fell under a different regime, the family fled and the colonel began to work menial jobs in America to keep his wife and son living beyond their means.
 
     Buying the house cheaply and then selling it will provide the family with a new start in America. But then Kathy informs the county that they incorrectly repossessed her home and that she wants her home back. So who deserves the home? In this film, it really doesn't matter.
 
      “House of Sand and Fog” is indeed a film about a house, but it is carried by performances, not plot. First-time director Vadim Perelman left the world of television commercials behind to make this haunting film that sees into the characters' hearts and simultaneously paints them with pity and compassion.
 
     Connelly renders a masterful performance, though hers is the weakest of the three, as she refuses to fall victim to the not-so-swift arm of justice. She appears to be the film's heroine in the beginning of the film until her relationships and emotions spin her out of control.
 
     Kingsley provides a brilliant, subtle performance. He can speak volumes without saying a word, with stares into the distance more powerful than Shakespearean soliloquies. Quiet yet commanding, he remains in reserve as if to remind viewers that there's more to his character than what meets the eye.
 
      Aghdashloo, who became the first Iranian actress to be nominated for an Oscar, rounds out the trio with a heart-wrenching performance given mostly in a foreign tongue.
 
     Fearful that her family will be deported and killed, Aghdashloo provides the requisite crying and screaming for an Oscar nomination, but comes off as wholly honest yet blissfully ignorant of the world around her.
 
     The art of compromise and civility disappear from the list of options each party has in this house battle. While intended to be heart-wrenching and harrowing, the ending comes off as slightly overdramatic and almost operatic in context. Still, “House of Sand and Fog” provides some of 2003's best performances.