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.
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.