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Sand in My Shorts
One more week till the fifth anniversary of my column. I cannot wait to show you readers that issue. It's one the biggest exclusives that I've had in YEARS! I managed to see The Rundown last Saturday night. I was quite surprised by it. The film seriously ROCKS! It features one of the most entertaining openings in quite some time. That alone is worth the price of admission. I'm also really happy that The Rock has finally been able to translate his wrestling act to the big screen. He's extremely charismatic and he could be the next big action hero. Make sure to give that flick a chance. Today, we have Ms Jones' two-cents on the House of Sand & Fog screenplay.
House of Sand & Fog Script Review
Imagine a foreclosed house, a nice foreclosed house. Imagine you buying the nice foreclosed house and immediately moving your family inside. Now, imagine the previous owner of the nice foreclosed house that you just moved your family inside of wanting the house returned, and, the city actually agrees. Hmm. Can you say, the foreclosure from Hell?!? If you can, you might as well say, House of Sand and Fog. They're twins, but the not-so-imaginary one hits theaters December 26, 2003.
For all practical purposes, the first 3/4 of my first draft dated 6 March, 2002 is essentially a bore. The piece is primarily character driven, and quite frankly, the characters drive really slowly. Even so, the pace of plot development and the small events that unfold therein are such that keep you reading because you know that something greater is to come. Or at least, you hope. In this regard House of Sand and Fog(HSF) doesn't let its audience down. Making your way to that end, however, is a bit, shall I say... uneventful. What HSF does have going for it is an amazingly refreshing main character, Kathy Niccolo to be played by Jennifer Connelly, who is one of the most human characters I've read. And, the story introduces us to a slice of Iranian culture without, in itself, being subjective, but exposing some possible prejudices people on both sides of the fence may have. It does that in much the same way that Witness did with its Amish characters. Perhaps screenwriter, Vadim Perelman's strategy is to feed the audience the smallest amount of drama and character development necessary to sustain their interest 'til the end, at which point, most of the monumental activity happens in the span of a few minutes. A movie that sticks out in my mind as one of these slow paced, tumultous ending storytales is In the Bedroom. Honestly, In the Bedroom was so slow for me that I had one of the best naps of my life while it played on the theater screen. Unfortunately, when I woke up, I had no clue as to why my friends were attesting to its greatness. Is HSF great? No. Is it entertaining? Yes, thanks to Kathy who unintentionally provides some comic relief. She does so just by being human, i.e. doing on screen those things that most people do or would do, but feel too embarrased to admit. Smelling your feet, looking through people's medicine cabinets, smoking at a gas pump, telling little white lies..just a few of the things you've done but are too embarrassed to admit.
HSF is an interesting sort of script because there are facts developing all the time. It's just that they aren't very exciting facts, nor are they very important. Everything that Perelman writes is with the purpose of making the audience more emotionally attached to the characters, so that we feel compassionately conflicted. There is Kathy, the previous owner of the house, and there is Behrani (Ben Kingsley), the current Iranian owner of the house. The two have such damning situations, and their circumstances so dire that our allegance is conflicted. Kathy is an ex-drug addict still struggling to prove that she can be trusted. Behrani is a financially downtrodden husband who lives outside of his means in order to hide his troubles from his family. Even when both exhibit dysfunctional and in Kathy's case, criminal behaviour, we sympathize because we understand their reason(s). One character, though, Lester Burdon (Ron Eldard of Ghost Ship and Just a Kiss) is harder to like. He's an arrogant police deputy who gives up his family at the drop of a dime for a mistress. His complicated personal issues are laid out on the table, as they play a hand directly into the bloody consequences.
The fact that there are bloody consequences shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone realizing that a peaceful movie can not possibly stay that way. Either the blood and guts have to soon appear, or, we find out that none of what we thought happened really happened because the main character is actually a secret Russian spy who uses the house as a headquarters for satanic rituals. Either of those scenarios would have to occur in order to appease an audience all too eager for action after 3/4 of a movie. (Just so you know, I made up the latter.)
Altogether, the film will be interesting. Of course, there are a few aspects of the script that aren't quite believable. Namely, one of those typical 24 hour romances in which both parties believe they're helplessly in love. Other than that, the slow, natural feel of the script makes one believe that these events could happen to anyone in the same set of circumstances. Quite simply, the scenario is likely, a foreclosed house with tangled owners, much like Beijing Bicycle. Unlike Beijing Bicycle, the characters aren't as likeable, even though we can sympathize with them. Also, they aren't teenagers so we don't forgive them for their misdeeds as easily either. The beauty in this film will be in the characters, their personalities, and their problems. How well Vadim Perelman will bring that to the screen will be a first for the audience and for him, as this will be his directorial debut.
Jennifer Connelly should be a treasure to see in her role as Kathy. Kingsley playing an Iranian man isn't too hard to imagine, so this won't be a breakthrough role for him. Still, he will work. So, on to the bottom line, is it watchable? Is it worth 8 bucks? I will simply say, I don't think I would go to sleep on it. But if there isn't enough dramatic music in the background to perk my senses, having a nice nap is certainly likely.
Thank you and Goodnight.
(Review by Miss Jones.)
Stay tuned...
That's all folks...
Jean-François Allaire (aka DeadPool)
Questions, comments, praise etc. Email me at deadpool@tnmc.org
Jean-François Allaire is TNMC's first columnist. At only 23 years old he has become a respected entertainment journalist, with his columns appearing in Corona's Coming Attractions and Scr(i)pt magazine. He also writes a monthly column in Screenwriters Monthly entitled 'The Last Word.' Hailing from Montreal this young writer is determined to dig up all the details on the movies before they hit your local theater. If you're part of a movie production then you really need to be talking to him.
