As I Lay Dying (2013)

I love this movie so much

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

From my favorite movies..

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

I never read Faulkner's classic by the same title, and from what I understand, I probably wouldn't have the patience for it anyway. My personal reading habits have a wide range of interests, from Westerns to Sci-Fi, but if any book is over 350 pages (and I don't care what it is) Oprah can go fawn over it.But I digress.'As I Lay Dying' brings to life many of the same near-primal struggles of day to day life that my grandfather used to occasionally tell stories about. The rough-hewn tone of the movie completely suspended my disbelief as all the cast mastered their roles in physical looks and attitudes.Particularly striking was Tim Nelson's portrayal of "Anse", the aging slack-jawed, bent over and backward minded Patriarch. Nelson, in fact, nails it so precisely he is barely recognizable from his many previous roles.Master make-up artist Kimberly Amacker and her crew very convincingly aged Nelson a good 30 years and 'removed' his teeth. It was an amazing transformation to behold. Ahna O'Reilly's "Dewey Dell" unfolds the age-old tale of probably the worst situation a young country girl of that era can be in: Pregnant and no husband. And no husband on the horizon, either.As the clan struggles through almost every disaster there is while transporting their dead mother's body, Dewey steals herself to the local pharmacies along the way every chance she gets in search of an unidentified drug that will abort her early pregnancy.We absolutely feel for and appreciate the extremely difficult time she has as an uneducated country girl trying to transmit in simple and cryptic language the nature of her problem. Her eyes absolutely plead for some compassion and sympathy, but she receives none. Evidently any kind of medical professional could expect to sentenced to life in prison for performing or assisting in abortions. Not to mention young girls facing banishment from their own families. Instead, poor Dewey is chided and debased further, only to resort to the most humiliating conditions available in order to purchase the drug.Considering the times, such a drug probably would have killed her as well, if not seriously compromised her health.The good old days they were not.So why only a rating of six? As with several other reviewers, the ubiquitous split screen ruined it for me. I found it extremely distracting. It effectively cut-down on the full views of such potentially beautiful panoramas and scenery reducing them to mostly head-shots of character's facial reactions. I cringed every time it appeared.Aside from that, a great story.Perhaps we can look forward to a re-work of a more traditional presentation in the future.

I was thoroughly impressed with Franco's work. It has been so many years since I've read that book but, unlike many reviewers that said you'll be lost and confused.....not at all! I got this movie from the get go. It was fantastic and I enjoyed all of it. If you pay close attention, you can see one character in particular and his decent into madness. Frankly, how could you not after everything they go through? These actors really played their parts well. Like many of Franco's movies, he wants you to really connect with each person and their individual stories, pain, feelings, etc. I def connected with these.A good watch. Well done!

Beware - spoilers below!!in this movie you will see - 1. maw laying in her death bed babbling on about how she hates her sons (and other stuff) 2. one son is outside the window to the room his maw is in sawing wood in a rain storm to make a coffin to put her in - she's still alive at this point! 3. they put her dead body upside down in the coffin - (head where feet should be) 4. they drop the coffin while taking it to the wagon 5. they cross a creek swollen with ragging water and the bridge is out - maw's coffin floats away down stream and a fallen tree smacks into one of the sons and smashes his leg. 6. they put the injured son on top of maws coffin (after retrieving it from the creek) 7. its summer and maws wet rotting carcass begins to stink and the buzzards follow them 8. they spend the night at somebodies house and burn the barn down (i never did understand why because at this point in the movie i'm laffing way too much). 9. every little town they go to the daughter (i think she's a daughter) ask for an abortion (her brother is father) 10. the rotting corpus stinks so much they get chased out of town 11. the broken leg guy is all infected so they put cement on the leg!! (the leg gets sawed off later) 12. throughout this entire story the half-wit rotted teeth paw is constantly yelling at his kids to 'respect yo' maw'! 13. they finally reach the cemetery where maw wanted to be buried and they toss the coffin into a hole they dig with borrowed spades. 14. the pregnant daughter gets banged by a pharmacist (his treatment for the abortion) 15. and paw goes somewhere in town and finds himself a new wife and everybody piles back into the wagon and heads back home.This is such a bad movie i have had more fun telling people about it and how funny it is if you can sit through it - a good mixed drink helps!

"As I Lay Dying" is not an easy sell as a commercial film. The title already intimates that it will be a depressing story about Death. It is based on the novel of an author, who, while being a Nobel Laureate, is not really known for being very easy to read -- William Faulkner. Hence, we can expect a film that is similarly hard to watch. Upon giving it a go, I am not wrong on both counts.This film is about the Bundrens, a poor but proud rural family from the boondocks of Mississippi. The mother Addie (Beth Grant) dies at the beginning of the film. Her husband Anse and their five children bring her coffin a long distance to Addie's hometown to be buried, in order to fulfill a dying wish. Along their long trip, we will get to know each character better as each one has his own little story to tell.This is one very slow film which will strain the patience of the most moviegoers. The contemplative script is full of deep monologues as each character tells his version of life. It certainly reflects the style that Faulkner is famous for -- his stream of consciousness writing style as well as the multiple narrators. This is the directorial debut of hard-working star James Franco, who has certainly gone a long way from when we first knew him as Harry Osborne in "Spider Man." He bravely tackles a difficult novel and he actually succeeds to visually interpret it very well. Once you get the drift of this languid storytelling style, and his attention-grabbing split screen technique, you will be mesmerized and drawn in. The imagery used is compelling as the grand country vistas contrast with intimate personal moments. Easily the best performer in the cast is Tim Blake Nelson as the stubborn and irascible patriarch of the brood, Anse. He has most realistic portrayal with that hot-potato drawl of his, uttering the most maddening of pronouncements. There is actually humor in his unpleasantness.The five Bundren children and the actors who play them, namely Cash (Jim Parrack), Darl (James Franco), Jewel (Logan Marshall-Green), Dewey Dell (Ahna O'Reilly) and little Vardaman (Brady Permenter), all have their moments. While Darl seemed to be the most centered of all the characters, ironically, it was James Franco who seemed to lack something in his portrayal. Maybe it is because we expect the most from him.This film is not for everyone because of its glacial pace and dark brooding subject matter. But with the proper attitude and frame of mind, you may actually find this a fascinating rumination about life and mortality, as you immerse yourself in this grim slice of rural American life in the 1920s. 7/10.