I got semi-dragged to The House of Sand and Fog (I was hesitant after reading the synopsis, then agreed to go after reading a handful of glowing reviews). Good lord. It was like a reeaally drawn out made-for-TV movie, but instead of a hooker housewife or anorexic schoolgirl it’s about a lazy, manipulative recovering alcoholic and a misogynist ‘noble immigrant’ Iranian stereotype fighting over a house. And fighting. And fighting. The characters are entirely unsympathetic and the ‘plot’ can barely hold up for an hour, let alone over two, and the fact that the most emotional moment in the film (both on and off screen) involved Jennifer Connely stepping on a nail should tell you something. Okay, we get it, they both want the house- my friend and I were laughing in disbelief and there was even one of those bad-movie moments where a character says something like ‘I want it to be over’ and someone in the audience grumbles ‘Me, too.’
Did anyone else sit through this, baffled by the good reviews and awards it has received?
Now that the movie is out on video, maybe this bump will elicit some responses…
The movie ended with me trying to figure out what the point was, other than the protagonist doing an excellent job of unintentionally destroying the lives of all of the other main characters. This was alluded to in the Iranian wife’s dream of the trapped bird.
Unlike the OP, though, I did find the main characters somewhat sympathetic.
I read the book about a year and a half ago. It was a very compelling read, but I don’t want to see the movie. Gratuitous violence just doesn’t do much for me. The book was just plain depressing and I didn’t want to revisit it.
The movie was trajedy in its classical form and brilliantly done. It works simply because the bad things happen due to the inflexibility of everyone’s character. No one does anything wrong, and all are right in their own lights. Yet everything falls apart for everyone.
If you don’t see the sadness of that, you have a lot of growing up to do.
Oh I agree with Chuck! About it being a classic tragedy, I mean. You can see everyone’s point of view and it all leads to a hopeless conclusion. The confused alcoholic woman doesn’t see the consequences of her actions. The inflexible Iranian general just wants to be treated fairly. The baffled wife loves her husband yet barely understands what is going on. The ending is just classic. The boyfriend is suitably weird in that he thinks he’s doing the right thing, but all he does is hurt people. The more I think about this story, the more of human nature you see. It’s not all pretty, human nature. This movie illustrates that idea compellingly.
I see this thread didn’t get many responses. I just watched this crap fest on dvd, and felt compelled to look on the SDMB to see what had been written about it.
What a SLOW movie. There were so many scenes that had no dialog, that were just music while we watched a character sit there and contemplate life, or walk slowly somewhere. Sheesh!
I wasn’t too impressed with the conclusion either. It was like it didn’t have an ending! I liked the deleted scene where JenCon get strangled by Ben Kingsley. At lease there was closure that way. I’m all curious now as to how it would have gone on for Jennifer Connelly. I like to picture her getting her ass slapped in jail for being part of her boyfriend’s idiotic behaviour.
Two hours of my life wasted.
E3
I walked out of it VOWing never again to watch a movie that Andre Dubus even wrote a LETTER about.
The acting was superb; the director should focus on actors, his strength. But otherwise the direction was atrocious.
Ooooh! Fog! How symbolic of the fleeting nature of materiality! Then, Ooooh! Fog! How symbolic of the fleeting nature of materiality! Then, Ooooh! Fog! How symbolic of the fleeting nature of materiality! Then, Ooooh! Fog! How symbolic of the fleeting nature of materiality! Then, Ooooh! Fog! How symbolic of the fleeting nature of materiality! Then, Ooooh! Fog! How symbolic of the fleeting nature of materiality! Then, Ooooh! Fog! How symbolic of the fleeting nature of materiality! Then, Ooooh! Fog! How symbolic of the fleeting nature of materiality! Then, Ooooh! Fog! How symbolic of the fleeting nature of materiality!Then, Ooooh! Fog! How symbolic of the fleeting nature of materiality!
Repeat until you walk out of the damn thing.
That’s a good point about it being a classic tragedy. Personally, I was intensely annoyed by the boyfriend, because he seemed determined to pick the stupidest course of action possible and do it without thinking twice or asking if it was even warranted. He made every situation much worse and despite everybody else’s moments of inflexibility, I got the sense they could’ve worked something out if he hadn’t been such an aggressive moron.
None of which negates the classic tragedy stuff, but it took away from the movie for me. It seemed like the writer needed to force the characters to make bad decisions to create a tragedy, and needed the boyfriend in particular to make sure nothing could turn out well. It was a very good-looking movie and most of the acting, as far as I remember it, was good. Jennifer Connelly bore an eerie resemblance to a friend of mine, too. It was well-made overall, but because of the above, I came away with the sense that the writer was trying to make me feel bad and had created the most depressing movie possible just because.
I agree 100%. It was the overwhelming number of contrivances specifically designed to have the Worst Case Scenario be fulfilled at every turn that finally got to me, the terrific acting notwithstanding.
If I had a real list of movies to see and/or rent, this one would on the “rent” side only because I understand Jennifer Connelly gets nekkid. But I’ll probably never get around to it.
Don’t hold your breath on that one either. Yeah, she gets nekkid, but you only see her butt and a side shot of one of her boobs.
Now you want to see a good Jennifer Connelley movie? Career Opportunities. The movie sucked, but 13 years ago, she wasn’t a lolipop, and had nice bigguns. It’s worth the rental just to see her ride the electric horse. 