the film on the whole approaches utter hack work. the direction vacillates between sloppy and grotesque heavy-handedness; it's like being beaten about the head with a two-by-four--not much in the way of subtlety. kingsley's good; shohreh aghdashloo is splendid; connelly's adequate in an underwritten, unsympathetic and utterly preposterous role. the story's basic concept is so weak to begin with, it's hard to suspend disbelief as much as we're asked to.
Review of House of Sand and Fog
