House of Sand and Fog

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House of Sand and Fog

R

2003

2h 6m

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

74%

Tomatometer

180 Reviews

83%

Popcornmeter

25,000+ Ratings

Reformed drug addict Kathy Nicolo (Jennifer Connelly) has her California coast house, which she inherited from her father, taken away by the county due to a misunderstanding about back taxes. The place is bought by Iranian immigrant Massoud Amir Behrani (Ben Kingsley), who intends to fix it up and sell it in order to provide a better life for his wife (Shohreh Aghdashloo) and son (Jonathan Ahdout). However, Kathy, desperate to get the house back, begins harassing Behrani so he will return it.

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Critics Consensus

Powerful and thought provoking film.

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Antonia Quirke

London Evening Standard

While the book reads as tragedy, the film feels like melodrama, and really hasn't the guts for Connolly's natural spirit and warmth, or Kingsley's beautiful canniness. They both feel completely throttled, done in by the film's over-calculated heaviness.

Dec 20, 2017

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Candice Frederick

Reel Talk Online

... it recaptured my attention with the pitch-perfect performances of both Ben Kingsley and Shohreh Aghdashloo.

Rated: B+

Sep 12, 2017

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Nell Minow

Common Sense Media

Serious and thoughtful; for mature teens+.

Rated: 4/5

Dec 24, 2010

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Diana Tuova

Spotlight on Film

[The film] is imbued with an almost poetic beauty, probably thanks to the work of Deakins (cinematography) and Horner (score)...[and another] great thing about [it] is the fact that the audience understands the positions of both Kathy and Behrani.

Rated: 4/5

Aug 9, 2024

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David Walsh

World Socialist Web Site

The intuition that violent, terrible acts flow inexorably in part from Americans' unawareness and incomprehension of the simplest facts of their own lives is undeniably true.

Feb 15, 2021

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Cole Smithey

ColeSmithey.com

A lack of empathetic characters cripples this poorly paced but well acted drama about an Iranian family who purchase a city-auctioned bungalow in Northern California after its former tenant has been unjustly evicted.

Rated: C

May 9, 2009

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Dallas H

I first watched this movie decades ago, shortly after it was released. Even then, as I do now, I still don't agree with casting an English actor to portray an Iranian character. It just doesn't make sense to me. Also, the story itself is okay. It seems to lean into the usual selfish American idealogue of the American Karen who thinks the universe revolves around her life.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/19/25

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Amy A

Really great acting from Ben Kingsley. The misunderstandings about her house payments/reason it was taken away were not very clear & this affected the seriousness of the storyline. As it wasn't very clear why he should give the house back. I actually cried at part of the film and don't really know why - perhaps it was Kingsley's incredible acting.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

10/19/24

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Bronwyn D

Acting was great. All the misunderstandings & miscommunication made me dizzy so I didn't really care for it overall. Plus the loss of rationality on everyone's part (especially the cop/lover) I thought was over the top.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

10/17/24

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Ohad R

A very moving tragedy. The acting is superb, especially by Jennifer Connelly, Ben Kingsley, and Shohreh Aghdashloo. The plot is, essentially, about how bad decisions lead to more bad decisions, ending in disaster. A hard hitting film, I couldn't bear to watch it again.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

08/02/24

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Alan W

It's a very moving film. Watching how one event leads tragically to the next, like dominoes falling.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/23/24

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Jelisije J

One of the most tragic mature modern movies that you will ever see and its absolutly a must watch.......sad to say I can never recommend this film to be watch over and over again for entertainment value.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/02/24

Full Review

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Vadim Perelman

Director

Jennifer Connelly

Kathy Lazaro

Ben Kingsley

Massoud Amir Behrani

Ron Eldard

Deputy Sheriff Lester Burdon

Frances Fisher

Connie Walsh

Kim Dickens

Carol Burdon

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Synopsis

Reformed drug addict Kathy Nicolo (Jennifer Connelly) has her California coast house, which she inherited from her father, taken away by the county due to a misunderstanding about back taxes. The place is bought by Iranian immigrant Massoud Amir Behrani (Ben Kingsley), who intends to fix it up and sell it in order to provide a better life for his wife (Shohreh Aghdashloo) and son (Jonathan Ahdout). However, Kathy, desperate to get the house back, begins harassing Behrani so he will return it.

Director: Vadim Perelman
Producer: Michael London, Vadim Perelman
Screenwriter: Vadim Perelman, Shawn Otto, Andre Dubus
Distributor: DreamWorks SKG, Miramax Films
Production Co: DreamWorks SKG, Bisgrove Entertainment, Cobalt Media Group
Rating: R (Language|Disturbing Images|Scene of Sexuality|Violence)
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Dec 26, 2003, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): May 14, 2014
Box Office (Gross USA): $13.0M
Runtime: 2h 6m
Sound Mix: Surround

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