Citizendia

For the article about the novel on which this film is based, see House of Sand and Fog (novel)
House of Sand and Fog

House of Sand and Fog movie poster
Directed byVadim Perelman
Produced byVadim Perelman
Michael London
Written byScreenplay by Vadim Perelman
Shawn Lawrence Otto
Based on the novel by Andre Dubus III
StarringJennifer Connelly
Ben Kingsley
Ron Eldard
Shohreh Aghdashloo
Music byJames Horner
Elton Ahi
(Songs)
CinematographyRoger Deakins
Editing byLisa Zeno Churgin
Distributed byDreamWorks Distribution LLC (USA)
Miramax Films (UK)
Release date(s)December 26, 2003
Running time126 min. House of Sand and Fog is a 1999 novel by Andre Dubus III. It was selected for Oprah's Book Club in 2000 as well as a finalist for the Vadim Perelman is an American Film director of Ukrainian origin Michael London is a Film producer. He has produced The Family Stone and Sideways. Shawn Lawrence Otto is a Minnesota -native Filmmaker, political strategist Speaker, and Writer, and Screenwriter and co-producer of Andre Dubus III (b 1959 in Oceanside, California) is an American writer best known as the author of the novel House of Sand and Fog Jennifer Lynn Connelly (born December 12 1970 is an American film actress and former child model. Sir Ben Kingsley, CBE (born 31 December, 1943) is an English Actor. Ronald Jason Eldard (born February 20, 1965) is an American Film, television and stage Actor known for his understated Shohreh Aghdashloo ( Persian: شهره آغداشلو, born 11 May 1952) is an Academy Award -nominated Iranian-American James Roy Horner (born August 14 1953) is an American Composer of orchestral and film music Roger Deakins (born May 24, 1949) is a BAFTA Award -winning English Cinematographer best known for his work on the films of the DreamWorks LLC, also known as DreamWorks Pictures, DreamWorks SKG, or DreamWorks Studios, is a major American Film studio
CountryUSA
LanguageEnglish
Persian
Budget$16,000,000 (estimated)
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

House of Sand and Fog is a 2003 American drama film directed by Vadim Perelman. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States Year 2003 ( MMIII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the A drama film is a Film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes Vadim Perelman is an American Film director of Ukrainian origin The screenplay by Perelman and Shawn Lawrence Otto is based on the novel of the same name by Andre Dubus III. See also Pre-production Screenwriting A screenplay or script is a written plan authored by a Screenwriter, for a Film or Television Shawn Lawrence Otto is a Minnesota -native Filmmaker, political strategist Speaker, and Writer, and Screenwriter and co-producer of House of Sand and Fog is a 1999 novel by Andre Dubus III. It was selected for Oprah's Book Club in 2000 as well as a finalist for the Andre Dubus III (b 1959 in Oceanside, California) is an American writer best known as the author of the novel House of Sand and Fog

The story concerns the battle between a young woman and an immigrant Iranian family over ownership of a house in Northern California which ultimately has dire consequences.

Contents

Plot

Kathy Nicolo is a recovering addict living in a small house near the coast in Northern California that she and her brother inherited from their father. Northern California is the northern portion of the US state of California. Abandoned by her husband and trapped by a malaise that has left her depressed and unresponsive to her surroundings, she ignores a number of notices threatening her with eviction for an alleged nonpayment of business taxes. Malaise is a feeling of general discomfort or uneasiness an "out of sorts" feeling often the first indication of an infection or other disease She only becomes aware of her precarious situation when the police forcibly remove her and her belongings from the house and put it up for auction. "Auctioneer" redirects here For the DC Comics supervillain see Auctioneer (comics.

Immigrant Massoud Amir Behrani, a former colonel in the Iranian Army, fled his homeland with his family during a time of conflict and now lives in San Francisco. Immigration refers to the movement of people among countries While the movement of people has existed throughout human history at various levels modern immigration implies long-term Colonel ( RP ˈkɜnəl GA ˈkɜrnəl is a Military rank of a Commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every country The Islamic Republic of Iran Army In Iran, it is also called Artesh which is Persian for "army The City and County of San Francisco is the fourth most populous city While working at menial jobs, he maintains the appearance of being a respectable businessman so as not to shame his wife Nadireh, son Esmail, and married daughter Soraya. His path crosses with that of Kathy when he purchases her house at a price he later learns is a quarter of its actual value. After some renovations and additions, he intends to flip the property and use the profits to buy a larger home. Flipping is a term used primarily in the United States to describe practice of buying an asset and quickly reselling (or "flipping" it for profit

Taking the advice of Deputy Sheriff Lester Burdon, who was assigned to handle her eviction, Kathy seeks legal assistance to regain title to her house. Attorney Connie Walsh is confident the fact her property was wrested away from her based on an incorrect assumption she owed taxes will force the county to return Massoud's money and reinstall her in the house. Massoud, however, is not prepared to accept anything less than the appraised value of the property.

Lester leaves his wife and children and becomes Kathy's protector, confronting Massoud and threatening him with deportation if he refuses to cooperate. Deportation, not to be confused with Extradition, generally means the expulsion of someone from a place or Country. Kathy, seeing no satisfactory resolution to her problems, attempts suicide in her old driveway and is rescued by Massoud, only to swallow a handful of pills while in the bath. Unconscious, she's discovered by Nadireh, who forces her to vomit the medication. Vomiting (also called throwing up, emesis) is the forceful expulsion of the contents of one's Stomach through the Mouth and sometimes the As she and her husband are trying to get Kathy into the bedroom, Lester comes looking for her, misinterprets what he sees, and holds the Behrani family hostage until Massoud agrees to his proposal - accept the $45,000 he paid for the house from the county and relinquish the payment to Kathy in exchange for her giving him title to the property.

Massoud and his son accompany Lester to the county office to finalize the transaction. On the steps, Esmail seizes Lester's gun and aims it at him. Though dishelveled Lester still wears his police uniform and the commotion draws two police officers. To them a fellow officer is being held hostage. The officers draw their weapons and in the confusion Esmail Behrani turns towards them. They shoot in what they believe to be self defence. Esmail is rushed to hospital. He does not survive.

Overcome with grief, Massoud returns home. He drugs his wife's tea with a lethal dose of medication, then dons his old military uniform, tapes a plastic dust cover around his head, and slowly asphyxiates beside his wife's body. Kathy finds the couple and attempts to revive Massoud with CPR, but is unsuccessful. As their bodies are being taken away by paramedics, a policeman asks Kathy if the house is hers. A paramedic is a medical professional usually a member of the emergency medical service, who primarily provides Pre-hospital advanced medical and After a pause, she quietly replies that it isn't.

Production notes

Shohreh Aghdashloo was a respected actress in Iran before emigrating to the United States. Shohreh Aghdashloo ( Persian: شهره آغداشلو, born 11 May 1952) is an Academy Award -nominated Iranian-American When the film roles she was offered were limited to terrorists and other assorted villains, she turned to a career in the theatre. Terrorism is the systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion Theatre (or theater, see spelling differences) is the branch of the Performing arts defined by Bernard Beckerman as what "occurs when one This film marked her return to the screen after nearly two decades [1].

Jonathan Ahdout, whose previous acting experience was limited to school plays, was cast as Esmail Behrani two days prior to the start of filming. Jonathan Ahdout (born March 18, 1989) is an American actor Ahdout was born in Santa Monica California to Yahya Ahdout and Jacqueline Hayempour His original audition had not impressed Vadim Perelman, but when he began to have doubts about the actor he ultimately had hired, he reviewed the audition tapes and saw something in Ahdout's performance he felt he previously had overlooked. He called him back and had him meet and perform with Aghdashloo. The chemistry between them convinced Perelman the boy was right for the part [2].

Establishing shots were filmed in San Francisco, Carpinteria, Pacifica, San Mateo County, and Santa Clarita, but the house of the title actually is located in Malibu. Carpinteria is a small oceanside city located in the southeastern extremity of Santa Barbara County California, east of Santa Barbara and northwest of Ventura San Mateo County ( "san muh-TAY-o") ( Spanish for: St Santa Clarita can refer to Santa Clarita California Santa Clarita Valley

An original soundtrack album featuring James Horner's film score and songs by Mohammad Heydari and Elton Ahi was released by Varèse Sarabande. House of Sand and Fog is the original Soundtrack album, on the Varèse Sarabande label of the 2003 Academy Award and Golden Globe James Roy Horner (born August 14 1953) is an American Composer of orchestral and film music A film score is a broad term referring to the music in a film which is generally categorically separated from songs used within a film Mohammad Heydari ( born 1939 in Tehran) is a Persian Santur player and songwriter Varèse Sarabande is a Record label which specializes in Film scores and original cast recordings.

The film grossed $13,040,288 in the US and $3,902,507 in foreign markets for a worldwide box office total of $16,942,795 [3].

Principal cast

Critical reception

In his review in the New York Times, A. O. Scott called the film "an impressively self-assured directing debut" and added, "[it] is the nearly flawless execution of a deeply flawed premise. Mr. Perelman inadvertently exposes the inconsistencies in Mr. Dubus's novel even as he comes very close to overcoming them . . . the conflict between Kathy and Behrani arises from a sin so trivial as to be almost comical . . . and every stage of its escalation seems determined less by the psychology of the characters than by the forced, schematic logic of the story. You feel the heavy, implacable force of the narrative without quite believing it. " [4]

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times said, "Here is a film that seizes us with its first scene and never lets go, and we feel sympathy all the way through for everyone in it . Roger Joseph Ebert (iːbɝt born June 18, 1942) is an American film critic and Screenwriter. The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily Newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. . . it stands with integrity and breaks our hearts. " [5]

Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly rated the film B- with the comments, "[it] has its pretensions, but mostly it's a vigorous and bracingly acted melodrama spun off from a situation that's pure human-thriller catnip . Entertainment Weekly (sometimes abbreviated as EW) is a Magazine published by Time Inc Melodrama refers to theatre in which music is used to increase the spectator's emotional response or to suggest character types . . though I do wish that the movie didn't spiral into the most shocking of tragedies. " [6]

Peter Travers of Rolling Stone rated it three out of a possible four stars and added, "Before it runs off course into excess, this brilliantly acted film version of the 1999 novel by Andre Dubus III moves with a stabbing urgency . This is about the film critic For the singing colleague of Mary Travers see Peter Yarrow. Rolling Stone is a United States -based Magazine devoted to Music, Politics, and Popular culture that is published . . Vadim Perelman . . . makes a smashing debut in features . . . Prepare for an emotional wipeout. " [7]

In The New Yorker, David Denby stated, "Ben Kingsley . The New Yorker is an American Magazine that publishes reportage commentary criticism essays fiction satire cartoons and poetry . . [is] the only entertainment in this noble pool of despair . . . Vadim Perelman . . . produces scenes of great intensity, but he doesn’t capture the colloquial ease and humor of American life. " [8]

In Salon, Andrew O'Hehir said it "features an astonishing pair of lead performances and one of this year's most impressive directing debuts. Saloncom, part of Salon Media Group ( often just called Salon, is an online " [9]

Channel 4 says, "There's nothing wrong in funnelling operatic tragedy through seemingly mundane domestic battles, but the way events escalate here feels deeply fraudulent . Channel 4 is a public-service Television and Radio broadcaster in the United Kingdom centred around a television channel of the same name which began . . heavy-handed allegory and symbolism wait at every turn . . . . though relentlessly downbeat, this is so overwrought, underdeveloped and ham-fisted that it's more unintentionally comic than genuinely tragic. " [10]

Awards and nominations

References

  1. ^ House of Sand and Fog DVD Special Features
  2. ^ House of Sand and Fog DVD Special Features
  3. ^ House of Sand and Fog at Box Office Mojo
  4. ^ New York Times review
  5. ^ Chicago Sun-Times review
  6. ^ Entertainment Weekly review
  7. ^ Rolling Stone review
  8. ^ The New Yorker review
  9. ^ Salon review
  10. ^ Channel 4 review

External links

Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS to recognize Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS The Academy Award for Original Music Score is presented to the best substantial body of music in the form of dramatic underscoring written specifically The Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture - Drama was first awarded by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association as a separate category in 1951 The Screen Actors Guild Awards are an annual award given by the Screen Actors Guild (SAG to recognize outstanding performances by members The New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress is an award given by the New York Film Critics Circle, honoring the finest achievements in filmmaking The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures was founded in 1909 in New York City, just 13 years after the birth of cinema, to protest New York City Mayor Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress2007 - Amy Ryan in Gone Baby Gone:Runner-Up Cate Blanchett in I'm Not There Founded in 1984, the Independent Spirit Awards were originally known as the FINDIE Awards ("Friends of Independents" and presented winners with The Critics' Choice Award for Best Actor is one of the awards given to people working in the motion picture industry by the Broadcast Film Critics Association. The Critics' Choice Award for Best Actress is one of the nineteen awards given to people working in the motion picture industry by the Broadcast Film Critics Association. The Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role is an award given by the Phoenix Film Critics Society to honor the finest achievements The Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Adapted Screenplay is an annual award given by the Phoenix Film Critics Society.
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