"The excellent acting is not quite enough to make us care" about House Of Sand And Fog, adapted from the novel by Andre Dubus III. Still, it's no skin off Shohreh Aghdashloo's nose since the Iranian actress scored an Oscar nomination for her role as the put-upon immigrant wife, leaving high-calibre co-stars Jennifer Connelly and Ben Kingsley in the dust.
House Of Hype
In a behind-the-scenes featurette almost exclusively concerned with the casting process, Aghdashloo is shamefully overlooked. Instead, luvvie Ben Kingsley gets most of the screen-time with all around singing his praises. "He can act with an eyebrow," lauds director Perelman. Kingsley himself waffles at length about the process of getting into character, which apparently involves a lot of "marinating and gestating". Hmm, sticky...
Meanwhile, if Connelly was in danger of getting too airy-fairy about her craft, husband Paul Bettany yanked her back down to earth. The Oscar-winning actress reveals that while trying to get into the mindset of a hopeless alcoholic, Bettany mercilessly poked fun, doing lame impressions along the lines of, "Ooh, look at me, I'm Jennifer Connelly, I'm a bit morose." Way to be supportive, Paul.
Perhaps to make amends for her fleeting appearance in the featurette, Shohreh Aghdashloo's audition tape is also included in this package. Sadly there are no subtitles for the improvised Iranian ranting that makes up the bulk of it, but when she starts pulling her hair and gnashing her teeth, you'll find there's no need for translation.
House Of Pain
There's more angst-ridden writhing and raving in an 11-minute reel of deleted scenes. It's easy to see why many of these ended up on the cutting room floor, as they're mostly too long, too indulgent, and overly portentous. However, a scene where Kingsley ever so coolly strangles Connelly is undeniably breathtaking - and not just in the literal sense.
Kingsley recovers his composure for an audio commentary with director Perelman, and novelist "Andre Dubus, The Third" (cue Ben Kingsley sniggering). But "the third" Dubus says very little, leaving it to the movie darlings to rake over the ins and outs of the production. Evidently it was rather a dull shoot, as the pair spends an inordinate amount of time debating whether the first or second unit shot particular scenes. Spells of silence follow, with Perelman eventually breaking the silence with, "Oh, this here was the second unit." Stilted doesn't even begin to cover it.
In fact, very few of the special features offer genuine insight into the making of the film, leaving House Of Sand And Fog in the middle of the road on DVD.
EXTRA FEATURES
