brazilian andrucha waddington begin his career a wunderkind director of publicity and video clip in his early 20 . by his late 20 and he would make a fine transition to movie with his medium length gêmeas ( 1999 and base on a short story by nelson rodrigues ) and and especially his heart warm feature eu tu eles ( 2000 ) . these two visually striking film have powerful plot and something his third fiction movie casa de areia ( house of sand ) have only a frail thread of . this film pretentious and abstract and non sequitur plot be probably inspire by the importance of northeastern brazil in einstein confirmation of his theory of relativity . waddington and writer elena soarez seize the opportunity to tell a story about 3 generation of woman and play by 2 of brazil fine actress represent oscar nominee fernanda montenegro ( central station ) and her real life daughter and cannes winner fernanda torres ( eu sei que vou te amar ) . but the plot be as thin a the fine sand of the jaw drop desert lunar beauty of the region of lençóis maranhenses in northern brazil and film a a collection of slow and grandiloquent and vacuously exhibitionist shot . casa . be a visually orient director dream represent it all image landscape and sand and storm and clothes and water and face and body . like a national geographic documentary . the music be sparse and under use so it would not compete with the image ( waddington opts for a fellini like wind blow soundtrack ) . if the premise of the script weren not so esoteric and ambitious and pseudo metaphysical and and the direction less on the exhibitionist side ( there a completely gratuitous love scene between torres and seu jorge and for example and devoid of any dramatic purpose while it there just a an aesthetic exercise ) and the film might have be more likable . wonderful actress montenegro and torres ( who marry to director waddington ) try with all their heart and but they seem embarrassingly aware that their character be a fragile and inconsistent a the shack they build on the dune . the rest of the cast appear in primary rough sketch of character and with enrique díaz and camila facundes particularly contrive in their artificial role . waste and waste . you can sit through casa . with the sound off and it would not make much difference this film be make to inspire awe for director waddington and his excellent dp ricardo della rosa and who fail and however and to convey genuine emotion or maintain our interest throughout the ( seemingly endless ) 103 minute . this film particularly hard to endure on a tv screen and a it fully belong to a big one . all thing consider and it a waste of talent for everyone involve and and a letdown by writer elena soarez and who implode the philosophical ambition of the story with pedestrian dialog and and director waddington and who favor technique and aestheticism over vibrancy and passion and emotional investigation of his character .