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Poster for House of Sand and Fog

House of Sand and Fog

Some dreams can't be shared.

2003 · 2h 6m · R Drama
Directed by Vadim Perelman

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Overview

Behrani, an Iranian immigrant buys a California bungalow, thinking he can fix it up, sell it again, and make enough money to send his son to college. However, the house is the legal property of former drug addict Kathy. After losing the house in an unfair legal dispute with the county, she is left with nowhere to go. Wanting her house back, she hires a lawyer and befriends a police officer. Neither Kathy nor Behrani have broken the law, so they find themselves involved in a difficult moral dilemma.

Director and cast

Critics on Rotten Tomatoes

Top critics, in their words

All reviews
74%
Tomatometer
Fresh

The vivid clarity of the images, the compressed fury of the tale, are impossible to get out of your head.

David Ansen, Newsweek
Rotten

Perelman and his long-suffering stars make a spectacle of pain, but fail to register any lighter notes, while the denouement seems calculated to wring out every last tear.

Derek Adams, Time Out
Rotten

If "House of Sand and Fog" ultimately feels like a failed exercise, it has less to do with Perelman's limitations than with a book that would have been better served by staying on the page.

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post
Fresh

Connelly, who has often mistaken posing for acting, digs deep here; Aghdashloo ... gives us a portrait of a woman who is both dutiful to her husband and ravaged by his iron will. Kingsley is most impressive of all.

Peter Rainer, New York Magazine/Vulture
Fresh

You feel you not only know these people but where they come from.

Mark Caro, Chicago Tribune

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