HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG
House of Sand and Fog might well be misinterpreted at a piece of US
propaganda, inspired by our overseas ads, by which that country plans
to keep potential immigrants out. The message is very clear: come to
America and you'll fall victim to selfish trailer-trash alcoholic
women and trigger-happy cops whose brains are as small as their
courage; then you'll end it all in a Hamlet-like bloodbath. At least
that's how we would begin to describe the overwrought narrative of
Vadim Perelman's latest film.
Set in misty 'Cisco, just behind the Golden Gate, Behrani
(Oscar-nominated Ben Kingsley) is a migrant who works two shifts to
support his struggling family in an illusive lifestyle beyond their
means. When he sees an ad for a government auction of a bungalow in
the newspaper, his keen sense of money is awakened. His plan-to buy,
build up and sell at four times the price he paid-is commenced. The
family now lives in a house where the ominous fog seldom clears.
Problem is the previous tenant (a consummate performance from Jennifer
Connelly as a twenty-something American with 'issues') was kicked out
because she failed to open envelopes and thus created a bureaucratic
tangle. The cop who evicts her soon befriends her and the two plot to
regain the house her "father worked thirty years" to pay the mortgage
on.
Personally this was a very engaging story because it set up so many
moral questions and dilemmas, greed being the spearhead. The
characterisations are designed, in my opinion, to maximise the
viewer's irritation no matter which side he or she takes. Perhaps the
ultimate message is not to take for granted the head-start
born-citizens have over naturalised one. The ugly issues of xenophobia
and prejudice are subtly siphoned into this film making them a
foreboding framework than a stark political statement.
So far House of Sand and Fog sounds like a film most people would be
interested in seeing. The huge problem is the ending, which aims for
high tragedy but instead descends into an almost laughable bathos
where any grip on reality is ceded, shooting the narrative into an
unreal world. This is a pity. Perelman has two chances to end the film
earlier on, ensuring a more satisfying and realistic resolution: he
was too greedy.
Andrew Staker
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