The top three William Faulkner novels in order of
awesomeness: THE SOUND AND THE FURY, ABSALOM, ABSALOM! and AS I LAY DYING. He’s
one of the most important American writers in history. He helped change so much
with his style that he’s an indispensable figure in the literary world. Yet,
even though he was also known as a screenwriter—most notably for THE BIG
SLEEP—his work is nearly impossible to adapt into a movie. This is because his
novels are by and large internal to the characters. The plots are very simple,
but the intricacies of those who inhabit them are so deeply entrenched in the
work that it makes for shitty cinema. To adapt one of these novels would take
giant fucking balls.
James Franco, who directed this movie, co-wrote the
screenplay and starred in it, has those giant fucking balls.
Let’s face it, Franco’s great in everything he does. He’s a
Renaissance man. Poetry, painting, acting, philosophy, he does it all, and he’s
really good at it. This time, despite his giant fucking balls, he’s bitten off
more than he can chew. That’s fine. It’s possible that there will never be a
person who can adapt Faulkner to the screen. But dammit, he gives it his all,
and one has to respect that kind of dedication.
On the surface, this movie is very simple. It’s the tale of
the Bundren family and what happens when their matriarch dies. Addie Bundren
has been sick for a while, and when she finally dies, her family is obligated
to take her corpse on a long journey back to her hometown, where she wants to
be buried. Murphy’s Law is strong with this family, because everything that can
go wrong, does go wrong. And that’s it.
But the characters make this a very complicated story.
There’s Anse, the patriarch, who will do anything for a new set of teeth. Cash
is the dutiful son who builds his mother’s coffin. Darl, who fucked his sister,
Dewey, and gets her pregnant. Jewel, the rebel who does his best to stick with
his family, but only on his own terms. And Vardaman, the kid of the group who
has associated his dead mother with a catfish he caught. This is a rich field
for storytelling.
But where Franco as a director comes short is how he deals
with these characters. It’s easy to see why he made these decisions, and he had
the best of intentions in mind, but it just doesn’t work. First of all, a lot
of this film uses a split screen, and sometimes, the split screen shows
something happening in the near future on one side while depicting the present on
the other. Faulkner’s style is very jarring, and it takes a lot of effort to
stick with it and decipher the mystery of what’s going on. It’s kind of like
solving a Rubik’s Cube. Franco’s style with this movie is certainly jarring,
but the problem is that it doesn’t present the puzzle of Faulkner’s work. It’s
style for its own sake, and it rarely serves the story’s purpose. The only time
split screen has ever worked for anything is the TV show, 24, where it added
urgency and speed to a fast-paced show. Here, it just makes viewing difficult.
Another problem Franco tried to solve is the inner monologue
of every character. The novel is narrated by just about everyone, and Faulkner
has no mercy for his readers. You have to pay attention to figure out who is
narrating any given chapter. Granted, there is no easy way to adapt this style
to the screen—there might not be ANY way to do it—but Franco gives it his best.
What he comes up with is the reality show confessional. He gets close-ups of
the characters talking directly to the viewers. Here, it comes off as cheesy
and distracting. One is hard pressed to figure out a better way to handle this,
but while a noble thought, it clunks too much and takes one out of the film.
But enough with how the movie fumbles. Here is a list of
things Franco gets right. He’s got a great eye for beauty, and this comes
through best in the scene when the Bundren family tries to cross a river with
the coffin in the back of their wagon. Things go horribly wrong, and the wagon
gets knocked over. The brothers go sprawling, and the coffin floats down the
river, and the way Franco depicts this is sheer wonderment. He has a tendency
to overdo it, as if he’s trying too hard—and he is, since he wants to do
justice to a book he values a great deal—but in that sweet spot before
lingering too long, it’s perfect.
He’s very good with intense scenes, like when Cash’s leg
gets broken, and the doctor has to set it. Also, later when Cash needs to get
his foot amputated due to gangrene . . . wow. Jim Parrack, better known as Hoyt
from TRUE BLOOD, does an amazing job as Cash, especially in that scene as he
has to try to stay calm and ignore the pain as the doctor uses a bone saw on
his leg. Another great scene is when Vardaman sees the buzzards on his mom’s
coffin, and he runs around like a madman, trying to scare the birds away. Best
of all is the barn-burning scene, when Jewel runs in, to pull Addie’s burning
coffin out, severely searing his back in the process.
Franco’s also good with humor. In one great moment, Anse has
Addie’s corpse put into the coffin upside down, because she’s wearing her
favorite dress, and he doesn’t want it to get wrinkled. In another moment, the
Bundren boys fumble with the coffin in getting it from the house to the wagon,
and they nearly drop it. To top it all off, Tim Blake Nelson makes for the
perfect redneck with his grotesque mouth and his slack-jawed demeanor. In some
moments, he comes off a lot like Ernest P. Worrell’s great uncle Lloyd.
This is another area where Franco excels: the actors. That
Franco is awesome as Darl is a given. Beth Grant brings amazing life to Addie,
even though she’s not alive for much of the story. Logan Marshall-Green plays
an intense Jewel, especially in the end as he digs his mother’s grave with his
burned back. Ahna O’Reilly gets Dewey down perfectly, especially in her fury at
her brother for having sex with her. The scene where she exchanges sex for an
abortion is definitely shocking. It’s not a sex scene. No, this is more akin to
rape, and her demeanor shows it loud and clear.
And then there’s the shocker of the group: Danny McBride.
While there is a great deal of humor in this story, it is played straight for
the most part, bringing nervous, tragic laughs instead of the over-the-top
hilarity McBride usually brings to a role. He plays it really straight, the
consummate redneck. He’s really good in this movie. It’s a shame that he’s not
around long enough.
Of course, the acting isn’t perfect. Most of the movie is
mumbled, so you have to turn the volume waaaaaaay up. Because of this, the film
seems to have a slower pace, which may frustrate some viewers. However, stick
with it. The ending pays off big time.
While Franco and his team did their best, this is a flawed
film. Yet it’s worth watching it. This might be the closest Faulkner’s novel
comes to being a good movie. Good news: Franco is working on a film version of
THE SOUND AND THE FURY. See? He’s got a giant fucking set of balls on him. One
can only hope that he’s learned from AS I LAY DYING, so that he can figure the
next one out better. (Wouldn’t it be great to see what he can do with
SANCTUARY?)
It’s hard to recommend this movie, because it’s painful to
watch great ambition fall just a bit too short. It will take dedication to make
it through, but for the few who take this journey with the Bundrens, it is as
rewarding as a movie based on a Faulkner book can get.
AS I LAY DYING
Directed by James Franco
Written by James Franco and Matt Rager
Released by Millennium Entertainment
109 minutes
2013
This I must see.
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