Search - As I Lay Dying on DVD

K. K. (GAMER)
Reviewed on 12/9/2023...

Waste of Franco and McBride talent in this!

George K. from COLCHESTER, CT
Reviewed on 9/21/2020...

Be prepared for a difficult time with this movie.

Franco has taken a massively sad and depressing story and presented it largely in split screen, which is at times a bit confusing.

The story: A poor white family takes several days to travel 40 miles by horse cart to bury the deceased mother. Along the way, they lose their draft horse team when their cart overturns in a flooded river, and the paterfamilias bargains away their remaining good horse for a team of mules. Time passes and the corpse decays enough to stink. One son loses his leg to gangrene. The pregnant, unmarried daughter is forced into sex with a vile man. Just after the corpse is finally in the grave, another son is taken into custody for setting fire to a barn.

Just before the family's ever-mounting misery persuaded me to stop watching the movie, it ended in an ironic twist.

Although the movie got panned on Rotten Tomatoes, Franco's presentation is interesting, and the characters are well presented and convincing.

I enjoyed it in a masochistic sort of way.