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Movie Overview
Cast
• Ben Kingsley
• Jennifer Connelly
• Ron Eldard
Director
• Vadim Perelman
MPAA Rating
R - some violence/disturbing images, language, and a scene of sexuality
House of Sand and Fog (2003)

REVIEWS
NEWS
INTERVIEWS OTHER
OFCS Rating: 77% Fresh
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"The dramatic scheme is to show how two people ... intersect "tragically," but what we see is a group of characters who act as wrongheadedly and intransigently as imaginable."  Blogcritics.org  Alan Dale

4/5
"Una espiral dramática de desalojo en múltiples contextos."  Cinenganos  Alex Ramirez

A
"An intense drama with a brilliant performance by Ben Kingsley."  FromTheBalcony  Bill Clark

C
"Kingsley's astonishing performance is wasted in this otherwise overlong, overwrought, and overcooked mess-o-drama."  AboutFilm.com  Carlo Cavagna

C
"Sir Ben Kingsley and Jennifer Connelly provide memorable performances, but this morose film is far too boring and depressing to recommend."  EDGE Boston  David Foucher

3.5/4
"The House of Sand and Fog is clearly one of the best films of the year, but probably won't be recognized come award season due to the downbeat nature of the story."  Reel Film Reviews  David Nusair

C+
"There was nothing left to think about after all the dust cleared, just another movie that got eaten up in the Bay Area fog."  Ozus' World Movie Reviews  Dennis Schwartz

7/10
"House of Sand and Fog is an intense, thought- provoking movie experience"  Draxblog Movie Reviews  Dragan Antulov

3/4
"For viewers courageous enough to withstand the bleakest of stories and the most cynical of outcomes, House of Sand and Fog is a challenging motion picture."  TheMovieBoy.com  Dustin Putman

.5/4
"The war between America and the Middle East is in full metaphoric force in Vadim Perelman’s ridiculous eviction melodrama House of Sand and Fog."  Slant Magazine  Ed Gonzalez

A
"An important indictment against intolerance of all kinds, and an exceptional work whose very subject will likely scare off the very audiences who need to see it the most."  FilmJerk.com  Edward Havens

3/5
"A pesar de los excesos del libreto, la película atrapa gracias a la notable dirección de Perelman, apoyada sobre todo en la impecable fotografía de Roger Deakins (...)"  Uruguay Total  Enrique Buchichio

A-
"The human drama captured in this film is some of the most poignant and insightful of the year.... Even in improbable situations, these characters feel like real people."  EricDSnider.com  Eric D. Snider

3.5/4
"House of Sand and Fog is spellbinding in its storytelling and chest-collapsing in its horror. It’s a difficult film to watch and a far-more thorny one to walk out of. "  eFilmCritic.com  Erik Childress

A-
"Thoughtful, disturbing storytelling."  Film Blather  Eugene Novikov

B
"Elegantly somber...it fails to paint both sides of its central dispute with the same degree of success, but it builds considerable cumulative power."  One Guy's Opinion  Frank Swietek

5/5
"An engrossing drama about the downward mobility of a recovering alcoholic and the yearning for upward mobility of an Iranian immigrant. "  Spirituality and Practice  Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat

B-
"A poignant presentation of the unanswerable question...can America, and Americans, live up to the ideals (and ideologies) it sets for itself?"  Mixed Reviews  Gabriel Shanks

3.5/4
"Gripping and unforgettable."  ReelViews  James Berardinelli

4/5
"Jennifer Connelly and Ben Kingsley shine despite a few unvarnished rough spots in this human drama."  Netflix  James Rocchi

8/10
"Not easy to sit through, but it has something worthwhile to communicate and strong actors who go all out to communicate it."  Window to the Movies  Jeffrey Chen

8/10
"The most assured English language debut to hit screens since the equally dark and creepy American Beauty."  Planet Sick-Boy  Jon Popick

4/5
"I "only" give it Matinee rating because when all is said and done, the story didn't end up anywhere, nor did the characters grow or change in any way."  Cinerina  Karina Montgomery

2.25/5
"Turning into a twisted pretzel, House of Sand and Fog becomes a melodrama straining to make its point."  Film-Forward.com  Kent Turner

A
"Kingsley's subtle acting style is lifted to blissfully new heights in the first half of the film, where he often does nothing but focus his intense glare on a subject."  FilmStew.com  Larry Carroll

B+
"Russian born Perelman has given ... more fully to the foreigner..., but the universal desire for land ownership has never been more lamentably depicted."  Reeling Reviews  Laura Clifford

9/10
"What is probably the best-written film of the year functions as a thriller and as a human drama."  rec.arts.movies.reviews  Mark R. Leeper

1.5/4
"Not nearly as interesting or nuanced as it seems to think it is"  Movie Habit  Marty Mapes

"Is there anything that makes you want to scream more than a film that’s this full of its own gravity and import?"  Flick Filosopher  MaryAnn Johanson

B
"It fails to sustain a sense of tragic inevitability and that prevents it from being truly involving. "  Movie Mom at Yahoo! Movies  Nell Minow

B
"Partially successful."  Lessons of Darkness  Nick Schager

5/5
"Triste e moralmente complexo, o filme se encaixa com perfeição no Grande Tema de 2003: o drama familiar."  Cinema em Cena  Pablo Villaca

3.5/5
"Could have been even more compelling with a less heavy-handed approach to the material."  Shadows on the Wall  Rich Cline

B
"While the plot of the film is not very believable, three great actors give performances deserving of Oscar consideration."  Laramie Movie Scope  Robert Roten

B+
"...cannot fault the fine craftwork done both in front of and behind the camera. Kingsley is on my short list for best actor."  Reeling Reviews  Robin Clifford

5/5
"House of Sand and Fog is the diametric opposite of stuff like Enough and Double Jeopardy, and I mean that as a very large compliment."  eFilmCritic.com  Scott Weinberg

3/5
"Is House anti-American? Possibly."  Filmcritic.com  Sean O'Connell

2.5/4
"For all its flaws ... House of Sand and Fog is a quietly devastating film."  Reel.com  Timothy Knight

1.5/4
"Difficult to gauge on its own merits given the typically invasive grandiosity of another abominable James Horner score."  Film Freak Central  Walter Chaw

"Click here to see review"  Wolf Entertainment Guide  William Wolf

7/10
Read review  Movie Gazette  Anton Bitel

3/4
Read review  Q Network Film Desk  James Kendrick

6/10
Read review  JoBlo's Movie Emporium  JoBlo

9/10
Read review  www.susangranger.com  Susan Granger

Read review  PopMatters  Cynthia Fuchs
OFCS Rating: 77% Fresh
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