{"id":5024,"date":"2014-09-27T14:38:33","date_gmt":"2014-09-27T13:38:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/?p=5024"},"modified":"2014-09-28T15:09:20","modified_gmt":"2014-09-28T14:09:20","slug":"the-sound-and-the-fury","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2014\/09\/27\/the-sound-and-the-fury\/","title":{"rendered":"The Sound and the Fury"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a>
The Sound and the Fury<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n

\nDirector:<\/B> James Franco

\nWriter:<\/B> Matt Rager

\nBased on the novel by:<\/B> William Faulkner

\nCast:<\/B> James Franco, Seth Rogen, Joey King, Scott Haze

\nUSA 2014

\n101 mins\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

**** out of *****<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Last year, James Franco plunged his lead actor Scott Haze into the unenviable position of having to go \u2018full retard\u2019 as a psychotic half-wit in Child of God<\/i>, the genuinely great film adaptation of Cormac McCarthy\u2019s shocking book. The real detriment of going \u2018full retard\u2019, however, was not scoring an Oscar, but the fact that Haze played a character who takes a crap on screen, wipes his poopy-butt with a stick, watches young lovers get it on in the back seat of their car whilst he jerks off, murders a host of honey-pies, has sex with corpses and then<\/i> dons their clothing when he goes on a mad transvestite-like killing rampage against a whole passel of lawmen.<\/p>\n

Here we are, one year later, and Franco hands the brilliant Haze the role of Jason Compson, easily one of the most reprehensible figures in American literature. Haze is probably thanking Franco for this one, though, since Franco reserves the \u2018retard\u2019 challenge all for his lonesome, playing Jason\u2019s \u2018tetched in the head\u2019 little brother Benjy. Replete with ludicrous buck-toothed prosthetics, plenty eyeball rolling, grunting and drooling, Franco goes further on the \u2018full retard\u2019 front than any actor in film history.<\/p>\n

This is Franco\u2019s second stab at William Faulkner in so many years, and it far outdoes his shot at As I Lay Dying<\/i>. Faulkner \u2013 to my mind \u2013 is completely unsuitable a literary source for film adaptation. God knows many have tried and failed miserably, but Franco just keeps on giving the gift that keeps on giving.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s my bias. I love James Franco as a director. He spits in the face of everything and everybody, does what he damn well pleases and makes movies like nobody else in contemporary America.<\/p>\n

Here he tackles the meandering tale of the once-rich-and-powerful Compson family dynasty of the Deep South and infuses it with the most delectably over-the-top melodrama imaginable. He divides his film into three chapters, primarily focusing upon the Compson brothers: simpleton Benjy, scumbag Jason and the doomed Quentin (Jacob Leob). In the mix we\u2019ve got \u2018fallen\u2019 sister Caddy (Ahna O\u2019Reilly), her \u2018bastard\u2019 child Miss Quentin (Joey King), loyal housekeeper Dilsey (Loretta Divine) and even hockey star Wayne Gretzky\u2019s wife, Janet Jones, as the deluded Compson matriarch. The family basically snipes at each other, loses all their land, while foul Jason steals, lies, vents, abuses and bullies his way through his pathetic life.<\/p>\n

And what of Benjy, our \u2018full retard\u2019? Well shucks, he\u2019s a mite jealous when his beloved sister starts a-rollin\u2019 in the hay with eager male suitors, so he begins a-stalkin\u2019 some local gals and does somethin\u2019 he shouldn\u2019t ougtha be doin\u2019.<\/p>\n

This is pure, delicious Southern Gothic at its most insane. It even indulges in some delightful Terence Malick Tree of Life<\/i> shenanigans, which play like parody of the highest order. Some might believe Faulkner would be spinning in his grave over this one, but I doubt it. I think even he might have himself as rip-roaring a good time as I did.<\/p>\n

Greg Klymkiw<\/B><\/I><\/p>\n

This review is part of our TIFF 2014 coverage<\/a>.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pure, delicious Southern Gothic at its most insane.
\nReview by Greg Klymkiw<\/B><\/I><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11,6],"tags":[133,734,1054,442,1023,1053],"class_list":["post-5024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-check-it-out","category-festivals","tag-american-cinema","tag-cormac-mccarthy","tag-james-franco","tag-southern-gothic","tag-tiff","tag-william-faulkner"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","wps_subtitle":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/purUP-1j2","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1530,"url":"http:\/\/www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk\/reviews\/2011\/02\/21\/howl\/","url_meta":{"origin":5024,"position":0},"title":"Howl","author":"VirginieSelavy","date":"February 21, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Combining recreated scenes from the courtroom with animated sequences that accompany parts of the poem, and a docu-style dramatisation of Ginsberg's life, Howl is striking for its deftly interwoven structure. 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