House of Sand and Fog (2003)

An abandoned wife is evicted from her house and starts a tragic conflict with her home's new owners.

Director:

Vadim Perelman

Writers:

Andre Dubus III (novel), Vadim Perelman (screenplay)

Stars:

Jennifer Connelly, Ben Kingsley, Ron Eldard

Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 13 wins & 39 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jennifer Connelly	...	Kathy
Ben Kingsley	...	Behrani
Ron Eldard	...	Lester
Frances Fisher	...	Connie Walsh
Kim Dickens	...	Carol Burdon
Shohreh Aghdashloo	...	Nadi
Jonathan Ahdout	...	Esmail
Navi Rawat	...	Soraya
Carlos Gómez	...	Lt. Alvarez
Kia Jam	...	Ali
Jaleh Modjallal	...	Yasmin
Samira Damavandi	...	Little Soraya
Matthew Simonian	...	Little Esmail
Namrata Singh Gujral	...	Wedding Guest (as Namrata S. Gurjal-Cooper)
Nasser Faris	...	Wedding Guest (as Al Faris)

Storyline

An emotionally broken woman, Kathy, suddenly finds herself homeless after her house is wrongly repossessed and auctioned. Seeking respite from his marriage, Lester, a sympathetic sheriff's deputy comes to the aid of Kathy and becomes intimately involved in her situation. Soon, Behrani, a proud emigrant Iranian and his family move into the house only to find their new lives burdened by harassment from Lester and Kathy as they attempt to reclaim her former home. The once prosperous colonel denies Kathy's pleas for he knows his recent purchase promises a profitable return and a better future for his adolescent son and his wife. But latent consequences lie beneath Behrani's well intentioned plan as Kathy's emotions spiral out of control and her actions spark a tragic chain of events that will leave no resident unscathed in the House of Sand and Fog.

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Plot Keywords:

tragedy | based on novel | sex for favor | watching tv | house | 

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Taglines:

Some dreams can't be shared.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for some violence/disturbing images, language and a scene of sexuality

Details

Official Sites:

DreamWorks Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English Persian

Release Date:

9 January 2004 (USA)

Also Known As:

Casa de arena y niebla

Filming Locations:

Culver Studios - 9336 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$15,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$45,572, 21 December 2003, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$13,005,485, 28 March 2004

Company Credits

Production Co:

DreamWorks,Cobalt Media Group,Bisgrove Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

126 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Kathy is evicted from her house due to unpaid business taxes. Throughout the film, she is bent on believing the repossessing and the auctioning were mistakes from the county; she couldn't owe them a tax from something she never had. She also states that she inherited the house from her father, along with a brother. Later on, when Kathy asks on the phone for her brother to come over, he says something about his company's products, implying he owns a business. That destroys the argument of a wrongful eviction, implying the brother, who co-owns the house, owes taxes, and Kathy paid the price, losing her home.

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Goofs

When Behrani and Esmail are talking in Esmail's bedroom, the pillow shifts position from horizontally behind the lower lumbar part of Esmail's back, to standing vertically up to Esmail's shoulders, then back to the original horizontal position behind his back.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Officer at End: Are you Kathy Nicolo?
Kathy: Yeah.
Officer at End: Is this your house?

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Connections

Featured in Behind the Scenes of 'House of Sand and Fog' (2004)

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Soundtracks

Laylee
Written, Produced & Arranged by Elton Ahi
Lyrics by Hedieh
Performed by Andy featuring Shani

User Reviews

Tremendous

Amazing how seemingly small and insignificant events can quickly snowball to dramatically change the lives of those involved.

This movie had my rapt attention from beginning to end and is one of the best films I've ever seen. No, it is not an uplifting tale that ties everything up in a nice little bow at the end for the audience but that is one of it's greatest assets.

Life isn't always ice cream and teddy bears. Sometimes the cowboy doesn't ride off into the sunset and that's what makes this so compelling--the realism.

It's not often that I find myself talking to the movie. Pleading with the characters and wanting to jump into the movie to resolve a conflict.

If you don't have to reach for the Kleenex, test your carotid for a pulse.