Review of House of Sand and Fog (2003) by Spangle — 23 Jun 2015

Dark and moody thanks to brilliant cinematography from Roger Deakins and a great score from the late James Horner, House of Sand and Fog is a pretty good film all-around that manages to be quite thrilling and entertaining given the subject matter.

Thanks to the eerie mood set by Deakins and Horner, the threat of something bad coming around the corner is ever present throughout and, again, Deakins' cinematography is great, exemplified by the shots of fog consuming the home.

Man is this thing gorgeous. The acting, in particular from Jennifer Connelly and Ben Kingsley, is really good. The direction is solid and the film is pretty well-written. By the end, it is tough to decide who all to feel bad for, but one thing is certain; everybody loses.

Nobody wins in this film and everybody winds up losing quite big. On the negative here, House of Sand and Fog does feature some unnecessary plot points that could have been cut and left the film pretty much unchanged, in particular certain concerns held by some characters that just never come up again and seem to dissipate amongst the larger concerns that arise.

Yet, overall, House of Sand and Fog is a good film that features some powerful performances set along a beautiful backdrop in a film that is entirely heartbreaking.