House of Sand And Fog

[Rod Hagen]

Saw an advanced screening. Don't know who here has read the book, but for those who haven't get ready for a remarkably compelling story with a decidedly NON-Hollywood ending.

 

Ben Kingsley does conveys more emotion through his eyes than 99.99% of the actors out there using their entire being. And I think he's as equally masterful as Meryl Streep with accents; as an actor he truly seems to not have any identifiable ethnicity. He can play anybody. And he infuses this achingly personal, believable, story with equal parts poised delicacy and frustrated rage.

 

Unlike other heavy-handed tragedies of the last couple years-Monsters Ball, In The Bedroom-in House of Sand and Fog when disaster strikes, you're definitely NOT shaking your head, but maybe drying your eyes.

[Guest random]

Here's the official site where you can view the trailer and get more details about the film. http://www.dreamworks.com/houseofsandandfog

[Guest Dan]

Probably the most powerful and disturbing movies I've seen this year. It works on so many levels and it's depecition of the traditional Persian family is apparently quite accurate.

 

Dan Dare

LA, CA

http://www.men4rentnow.com/account/profile/index.asp

http://www.male4malescorts.com/reviews/dandarela.html

[+ Lucky]

The movie is only playing in limited release, but I did read the book. Of course I pictured Ben Kingsley as the Colonel. It looks like a role written for him.

The story in the book has many implausibile situations, but the portrayal of the human struggle for love, meaning, and dignity comes to a gripping conclusion. I hope the movie is as good.

[Paul Revere]

I was Sand and Fog in New York this week, and was hugely disappointed. Althogh the acting was great, the story was so stupid and so contrived that I just couldn't accept any of it. Yes, Ben Kingsley was wonderful, and the actors who played his wife and san were also very good. Their story was rather compelling, but the Jennifer Connolly charachter and the deputy sheriff were so ridiculous as to stretch any bounds of credibility. None of it made any sense. There were so many unanswered questions about those two characters, and the whole set up was completley ridiculous. So for me the acting was great but the story didn't hold together for me at all.

[+ Lucky]

Now I have seen the movie, and yes, the acting is great. But what passes for entertainment these days seems to be a movie where we can watch others whose lives are bleaker than ours. (21 Grams being another example).

I knew what was going to happen in the movie but it was still unsettling to see it play out. I was not so concerned about the implausibities of the story because the feelings conveyed were not implausible. Ron Eldard was cuter than the depouty described in the book, and Jennifer Connely is cuter than the book's character, which for that role I think was a mistake. She is supposed to look a little more down and out and not so beautiful!