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Laramie Movie Scope:
House of Sand and Fog

A tragic tale about keeping a house

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by Robert Roten, Film Critic
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January 13, 2004 -- This is another in a line of serious movies released near the end of 2003 hoping for a shot at the Academy Awards. While the plot of the film is not very believable, three great actors give performances in this film that are deserving of Academy consideration this year. Academy voters tend to discount comedies in favor of dark dramas, hence the depressing theme of this film. Academy voters tend to forget good films that come out early in the year. Hence the late rollout. Critics also tend to remember films and performances released at the end of the year. This film will be remembered in the awards season.

This is a tragic tale of two people who claim the same house as their own. Think of this as an even darker version of “The War of the Roses,” but without the comedy. Kathy (played by Jennifer Connelly of “A Beautiful Mind”) is evicted from her house due to a bureaucratic governmental error. Immigrant Behrani (Ben Kingsley of “Sexy Beast”) buys the house for a fraction of its value at auction and plans to sell it at market value, making over $100,000 profit. His family, exiled from their homeland of Iran, has been living beyond its means and desperately needs the money. Kathy is told she can sue the local county government and get her property back, but it will take time.

She doesn't want to wait. She seduces a deputy sheriff, Lester (Ron Eldard of “Black Hawk Down”) into helping her force Behrani out. Lester tries to scare Behrani with a bluff and some legal mumbo jumbo about fair disclosure of a legal cloud on the property. Behrani, however, will not back down. He was a colonel in Iran. He is smart and he sniffs out the deputy's bluff. Threats escalate out of control on both sides, leading to an inevitable tragedy. Behrani's regal wife, Nadi (Shohreh Aghdashloo), sees what is happening and tries to stop it. Nadi herself is partly to blame for the whole situation since she does not want to give up her life of luxury, and helps to deplete the family's funds. This forces Behrani to work very hard for his money. It also makes him even more determined to sell the house.

The chain of events, however, is not entirely believable. There is a certain manipulation of events and the characters are not entirely consistent, particularly in the last act. Other than that, there are great performances by Jennifer Connelly and Ben Kingsley, as you would expect from such award-winning talent. Equally effective is the dignified, but soulful Shohreh Aghdashloo as Nadi. Aghdashloo's performance has not gone unnoticed by critics. She has been racking up awards from various critics organizations. Kingsley is also getting lots of recognition from critics groups. Don't be surprised if Aghdashloo and Kingsley are both nominated for best acting Oscars this year. The cinematography by Roger Deakins (“Fargo”) is also first-rate. This is a very classy-looking film with great production values. This film rates a B.

Click here for links to places to buy or rent this movie in video and/or DVD format, or to buy the soundtrack, posters, books, even used videos, games, electronics and lots of other stuff. I suggest you shop at least two of these places before buying anything. Prices seem to vary continuously. For more information on this film, click on this link to The Internet Movie Database. Type in the name of the movie in the search box and press enter. You will be able to find background information on the film, the actors, and links to much more information.

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Copyright © 2004 Robert Roten. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.
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Robert Roten can be reached via e-mail at my last name at lariat dot org. [Mailer button: image of letter and envelope]

(If you e-mail me with a question about this or any other movie or review, please mention the name of the movie you are asking the question about, otherwise I may have no way of knowing which film you are referring to)