..Gary Dretzka
..Noah Forrest
..Leonard Klady
..R.J. Matson
..David Poland
..Douglas Pratt
..Ray Pride
..Michael Wilmington

The House of Sand and Fog
Directed by Vadim Perelman

A very sophisticated spin on the 'cop from hell' genre, Ron Eldard is a patrolman seduced by the former owner of a house, played by Jennifer Connelly, into putting pressure on the new owners to sell the place back to her in House of Sand and Fog, a DreamWorks Entertainment release (90977, $27).  Ben Kingsley gives a superb, fully drawn performance as the Iranian immigrant who bought the house.  The story is linear and lifts its excitements from the thriller genre without sacrificing its drama for superficial action sequences.  You have to accept that Connelly's character is too emotionally strung out to follow her proper recourse-the filmmakers don't quite pull that part off, although they try-and there are many moments in the movie where shots and sequences are left in just for atmosphere or to show you what you already know is going to happen, but if these style choices don't make you impatient, then the story is highly involving and the tragedies that result are entertaining in a 'somebody's life is even more messed up than mine' sort of way.

The picture is presented in letterboxed format only, with an aspect ratio of about 1.85:1 and an accommodation for enhanced 16:9 playback.  The color transfer is stable regardless of how murky the fogbound settings become (the movie takes place on the coast near San Francisco).  The 5.1-channel Dolby Digital sound delivers James Horner's often subliminal score with an effective strength and diffusion. 

The 126-minute program has optional English, French and Spanish subtitles, 11 minutes of deleted scenes with the same kind of delicate emotions and performances that appear in the rest of the film, a passable 16-minute documentary, a 6-minute montage of photos accompanied by interview clips with various cast and crew members, a small collection of still photos, a cast & crew profile section and a production essay.  In the documentary, they mention several times that the audition for Shohreh Aghdashloo, who plays Kingsley's wife, brought everyone to tears (she was hired without them bothering to see another actress) and sure enough, when you play that 6-minute clip, that is how you end up as well.

Kingsley is joined by director Vadim Perelman and author Andre Dubos III on a commentary track (they also speak over the deleted scenes, but don't say much).  They talk about the story, the performers, how the film was executed and how everyone got together on it in the first place.  With prompting by Perelman and Dubos, Kingsley has a lot of interesting things to say about his craft.  "You have to trust your fellow actors.  Absolutely imperative.  One of the most stupid things I've ever heard a producer say, or directors, you know, 'We've got to get these two guys together in this love story because they really like each other, or we've got to get these two guys together as antagonists in this, because you know what?  They don't get on at all.'  That's just filming neurosis.  It's winding up a neurosis, provoking a neurosis, and then rolling your cameras.  What does the actor take home?  Nothing.  He takes home no fulfillment whatsoever.  Ron and I have a tremendous respect for one another, and therefore, no ego gets in the way, nothing is taken personally.  We are telling a story as two great storytellers honoring a great story."

This Week's DVD Releases

June 14, 2004

The Review Vault

- by Douglas Pratt

Douglas Pratt's DVD-Laser Disc Newsletter is published monthly.
For a free sample, call (516)594-9304 or go to his website at www.DVDLaser.com