Of all the performances overlooked at the 2004 Oscars (and there were a lot), one of the most annoying to me was the very understated Jennifer Connelly’s work in ‘House of Sand and Fog’. Not just in comparison to the overrated work in ‘21 Grams’, but because she had to carry the film while up against the still brilliant Ben Kingsley, who as usual threatens to steal the film. While reminiscent of recent films about immigrants to America such as ‘Real Women Have Curves’ and ‘Raising Victor Vargas’, this film is very much an unsentimentalised view of immigration. Rather than focusing on how happy life in the States can be, the film instead has two people at the end of their rope who, through circumstances I shall not reveal here, end up entangled in each others lives. Part of this is due to the fact that Ben Kingsley’s character was a general in Iran who lost everything after the fall of the Shah. So, as well as being willing to do anything to give his family the life they ‘deserve’, he is also a man who is used to power and respect; something he has nothing of in America. Tears will flow before the film is over, many of them in the movie flow from Shohreh Aghdashloo, an Iranian actress who is great as Kingsley’s wife who is having a very hard time adjusting to life in the States. In fact, all the actors are great, excepting Ron Eldard as the cop who gets involved with Jennifer Connelly. Obviously still recovering from his recent plastic surgery (eyes and jowls), he just doesn’t seem to be at the same level as the other actors. But the film itself is a dark look at life in America. And there WILL be tears before bedtime.