DVD Review HTF REVIEW---House of Sand and Fog (1 Viewer)

[Marc Colella]

I didn't find the film to be a bad one, but I did have issues with it.

I feel that Ron Eldard is a subpar actor... he's very wooden and has little range. His performance in this film just irratated me.

The film was going well... it was thoughtful and didn't take any shortcuts or force a conflict... until the last third of the film when logic and good sense get's thrown out the window, when

Ron Eldard's character (the cop) assumes that the family is up to "no good" when he finds Connely's character at their house, and for some reason fails to register that the family is actually trying to help her. He then imprisons them in the bathroom for the night. In the morning he takes the son hostage and as they're near a police station, the son tries to escape by grabbing Eldard's gun and (for some chiched and illogical reason) points it at another cop. In formulaic fashion, he get's shot and dies.

 

[Shane Gralaw]

After seeing this, Kingsley SHOULD have won. There was not a forced moment throughout his performance- something I can't say about Sean Penn in Mystic River.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

The performances are top-notch.

Kingsley would have won in a different Oscar year.

It's the events that I find implausable to accept --
that is -- unless this is a true story, which I am
trying to find out.

 

[Tom Tsai]

^ if you even have thoughts that it might be a true story, then it's not THAT far-fetched afterall is it?

 

[Patrick Sun]

Just as a reminder, for plot-related questions and discussions, those posts should go in the Official House of Sand and Fog discussion thread.

BTW, according to this review, the film/book was based on a true story.

 

[Guy Martin]

In the making-of featurette Andre Dubus, who wrote the novel, says that he read a newspaper article about a woman who was evicted for not paying $500 in taxes that she did not owe. The state then auctioned the house off before she could get it back. One of Dubus' close friends is an exiled Iranian Air Force Colonel who left a life of luxury in that country and ended up working in a convenience store here. Dubus then combined the two stories to create House of Sand and Fog.

- Guy

 

[JonZ]

I was disappointed as well.

Only becuase the first 2/3 were SO GOOD. I mean, really great.

Its hard to explain without spoilers, but the final 1/3 is so ridiculous and hard to believe, that I was pulled out of it and stopped caring.

Excellent acting though, and beautifully filmed.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Thank You, Thank You.

It seems, based on the description Guy provided
that the author took two different stories, combined
them and then threw in every possible extreme
castastrophe that could happen to a human being to
the point where it just seemed totally ridiculous.

 

[Felix Martinez]

Just a few cents on this interesting thread...

Well, this film is a tragedy in the truest, almost Shakespearean sense (as a style, not as a plot device). The tragic form - whether or not it pushes the plot into logical or far-fetched areas - supports the theme, which if I had to squash it down to one sentence would be: "know when to let go and move on." And, in a perverse way, Sand and Fog has a silver lining, if you think about the last line of dialogue.

But whether the events are real or fiction is irrelevant, IMHO. Kind of like asking why spaceships roar in the vacuum of space in certain movies, etc.

Like any dramatic style, true tragedies rely on a suspension of disbelief, and like the musical form - we don't see many true tragedies onscreen, so there is a bit of resistance in accepting them. I must admit, I had some trouble accepting Sand and Fog as well, until I realized by the last scene that I was having trouble accepting the tragic form, not the turn of events. I guess one could say the same thing for Requiem For A Dream (talk about piling up horrible situations!), but maybe the stylized execution of that film helps the suspension of disbelief (a variation of "the bigger the lie, the more we'll buy it" - or the roarin' spaceships example). Another example is Dancer In The Dark, which has the balls of combining a *musical* with a tragedy, shot on DV. Talk about pushing an audience out of their dramatic comfort zone!

That doesn't mean there's not a whole bunch of truth to extract from the real (or surreal) events. And like musicals, horror movies, etc., the delivery of the message may not be everyone's cup of tea.

Cheers,

 

[Sam Davatchi]

Thank you Felix. You said exactly what I wanted to say but never could. I honestly find it disturbing to ask if a story is real or not to judge the movie. It’s a tragedy and who cares if it’s real or not. If it works well as a story and passes its emotions and drama (and God forbid messages!) that’s what it counts. When was the last time that someone asked if Lord of the Rings really happened so they could judge if it can receive an Oscar or not!

 

[Blu]

I felt it was a amazing film. It did seem to have a few implausible moments, however sometimes truth is stranger than fiction and if fiction does track into the implausible I can forgive it from time to time.