I felt that the ending was "easy", though well made, choreographed and expressed. Aside from this semi-satisfying ending, I found the movie as a whole, very well-made, original in substance and form, and I would recommend it to all, though one must consider that this is rated R for a reason, there are a lot of things in here that should not be seen by minors, teenagers, and young adults, almost I would argue.
The cast was great, though I disagree with the choice of Ben Kingsley. Aside from the fact that he barely looks Iranian to me, his reluctance to speak farsi in the movie, although understandable on a real-world point of view, makes no sense in the movie. I can't really think of any of my Iranian relatives who would be so fond of his Caspian Sea cottage, but not very fond of their farsi language, especially considering that at some very emotional times, English seems to be the language that would come up before his mother tongue. Aside from this minor weakness the story rolls, and keeps on delivering unpredictable moments. The strongest morale to this story, was in my opinion: the sheer stupidity of man putting fore material possessions to well-being and health.
I regret not having been able to see House of Sand and Fog at the theater at the time, which I trust would have been a gratifying, though sad experience. The DVD rental was more than welcome, but considering the dramatic, tragic nature of the movie, buying it for your collection does not make much sense to me, unless (i) you exchange a lot of movies with your friends, (ii) you're deeply depressed, (iii) you're somehow immune to depression, but love to watch sad movies.
Jennifer Connelly (Kathy) - 9/10 - Amazing nuanced performance, and she's just drop-dead gorgeous.
Ben Kingsley (Behrani) - 8/10 - Does a great attempt at emulating the farsi English accent, but I am pretty sure that it does not really work for all Iranian viewers. Aside from this, very strong performance.
Ron Eldard (Lester) - 8/10 - Newcomer little known to me who delivers.
Shohreh Aghdashloo (Nadi) - 8/10 - Strong performance but I did not understand why it deserved an Oscar nomination.
Vadim Perelman - 8/10 - Extra points for convincing major studios to do such a courageous picture.
The cast was great, though I disagree with the choice of Ben Kingsley. Aside from the fact that he barely looks Iranian to me, his reluctance to speak farsi in the movie, although understandable on a real-world point of view, makes no sense in the movie. I can't really think of any of my Iranian relatives who would be so fond of his Caspian Sea cottage, but not very fond of their farsi language, especially considering that at some very emotional times, English seems to be the language that would come up before his mother tongue. Aside from this minor weakness the story rolls, and keeps on delivering unpredictable moments. The strongest morale to this story, was in my opinion: the sheer stupidity of man putting fore material possessions to well-being and health.
I regret not having been able to see House of Sand and Fog at the theater at the time, which I trust would have been a gratifying, though sad experience. The DVD rental was more than welcome, but considering the dramatic, tragic nature of the movie, buying it for your collection does not make much sense to me, unless (i) you exchange a lot of movies with your friends, (ii) you're deeply depressed, (iii) you're somehow immune to depression, but love to watch sad movies.
Jennifer Connelly (Kathy) - 9/10 - Amazing nuanced performance, and she's just drop-dead gorgeous.
Ben Kingsley (Behrani) - 8/10 - Does a great attempt at emulating the farsi English accent, but I am pretty sure that it does not really work for all Iranian viewers. Aside from this, very strong performance.
Ron Eldard (Lester) - 8/10 - Newcomer little known to me who delivers.
Shohreh Aghdashloo (Nadi) - 8/10 - Strong performance but I did not understand why it deserved an Oscar nomination.
Vadim Perelman - 8/10 - Extra points for convincing major studios to do such a courageous picture.