The House Of Sand
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C+ Film: B-
Andrucha
Waddington’s The House Of Sand (2005)
tells the story of a mother and daughter trapped in the middle of isolation in
a house that is not a home because the daughter’s radical, insane husband wants
to be their for religious reasons. He is
abusive, sick and makes their lives miserable, but they have no where to
go. When he dies due to his ignorance,
hate and idiocy in an accident, they are left without support and are cast into
said desert.
The rest
of the film is their journey to try to survive and find their place. Unfortunately, if you have seen Nicolas
Roeg’s Walkabout (1971) and need a
watered down version, then you’ll enjoy this as predictable and easy to
digest. It is the performances of the
actors that save this from begin a total wreck.
Fernanda Montenegro and Fernanda Torres are very convincing as
mother/daughter, but the problem overall is that the parts about existential pain
do not go as far as Roeg’s classic and this veers into melodrama at times.
Waddington
knows he has compelling material, but it never really takes on an identity of
its own, not staying with you. Even if
you never saw Walkabout, you will
find his screenplay a bit choppy in parts, but he is at least ambitious and
trying to do a film about something. The
critical kudos verify that this comes across.
The
anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 image is soft throughout, due to the transfer,
some stylization, Super 35mm shooting and possible edge enhancement. Cinematographer Ricardo Della Rosa cannot
escape the long shadow cast by Roeg’s Walkabout
visually along with the many narrative similarities. It is not at that level of excellence, but
still has its moments, doing what it can to make us feel like we are
there. The Dolby Digital 5.1 sound has
mostly ambience in its surrounds, limited dialogue and more silence than moist
5.1 mixes have. Walkabout was monophonic and had at least as much sonic character.
Extras
include previews for other Sony releases and an hour-long making of piece that
is better than expected.
- Nicholas Sheffo
