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The Sound & the Fury

Play trailer 1:34 Poster for The Sound & the Fury 2014 1h 41m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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22% Tomatometer 9 Reviews 33% Popcornmeter 100+ Ratings
The Compson family struggles to adjust to the changes in society during the early 20th century in the Deep South.
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The Sound & the Fury

Critics Reviews

View All (9) Critics Reviews
Kaleem Aftab Independent (UK) This, Franco's most ambitious project, is his best film by far. Rated: 4/5 Sep 12, 2014 Full Review Jessica Kiang The Playlist Franco probably has eight other things on the go at the moment (among them no fewer than three upcoming directorial features) which could account for why his "The Sound and the Fury" feels like maybe an eighth of a film. Rated: C Sep 11, 2014 Full Review Andrew Barker Variety Its surfeit of half-baked film-student flourishes and needless cameos occasionally give it an amateur-hour feel. But Franco nonetheless shows improvement over 2013's "As I Lay Dying," and well, it's hard to fault him for trying. Sep 7, 2014 Full Review Renee Schonfeld Common Sense Media James Franco's messy Faulkner adaptation has mature themes. Rated: 1/5 Oct 27, 2015 Full Review Glenn Dunks The Film Experience The Sound and the Fury is a step in the right direction for Franco the director, but it still doesn't quite suggest he's on the verge of something truly great. Yet, at least. Rated: C+ Nov 17, 2014 Full Review Greg Klymkiw Electric Sheep Replete with ludicrous buck-toothed prosthetics, plenty eyeball rolling, grunting and drooling, Franco goes further on the 'full retard' front than any actor in film history. Rated: 4/5 Sep 28, 2014 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (7) audience reviews
Audience Member Great movie. Benji is moving. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 02/03/23 Full Review Audience Member This is an excellent film! Does a remarkable job capturing the essence of the book. I can't understand why it has received so many negative reviews. Perhaps it's the story itself, which can be difficult to sort through--like much serious literature. That said, James Franco is creepy, and he seems to know this and embrace it. He's like a smelly cheese that offers deeply textured flavors to those willing to try a taste. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/22/23 Full Review Audience Member Well acted, moving southern gothic interpretation. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/25/23 Full Review Audience Member Stellar performance by James Franco Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/19/23 Full Review Audience Member You could say many things about James Franco and most of them are probably right in their own ways, but one thing I will say about the actor, writer, director, author and whatever other hat he sometimes dons is that the man is certainly determined. Seemingly never taking a break from his many on the boil productions, Franco has once more enlisted the help of his Hollywood friends in his directional adaption of yet another famed novel (following on from As I Lay Dying and Child of God) in the form of William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury. With this never far from depressive dramatic telling of the trials and tumults of The Compson family in the south of America in the 1920's, you can see as a positive that Franco is improving as a director. Where his work on Child of God and As I Lay Dying often felt like a slightly better budgeted college movie, The Sound and the Fury does seem more cinematic but no amount of cinematic gloss can help cover the fact that Franco's many varied flaws as both a performer and storyteller are on show worse than ever here with The Sound and the Fury, that acts as a borderline incomprehensible adaptation of Faulkner's no doubt tricky material. Segregated into three distinct chapters each dedicated to a separate Compson sibling, Franco's opening half hour stanza that focuses almost exclusively on his own portrayal of mentally challenged Benjy is some of the most nigh on unwatchable filmmaking you're likely to see, with a combination of Franco's grunting, bottom biting and dribble fuelled acting (which pays little to no attention to Robert Downey Jr's sound advice to Ben Stiller in Tropic Thunder) and shoddily put together flash forwards and flashbacks mixed in with unnecessary narration, killing the film before it ever even really began. The film does pick up slightly as the focus turns to Benjy's other flawed siblings but never once does Franco and his team win us over to care or be invested in what plights these no hopers are going through. It's hard to know whether Franco is intentionally churning out so-so, or with the case of this film dire adaptations for the sake of it, to have a laugh at the audiences expense or he to in his own mind show his a real 'filmmaker" but watching The Sound and the Fury makes one question how much longer he can get away with it for and if I were to offer up any advice to the busy auteur, it would be to please go back to cameoing in Seth Rogen stoner comedies as it's a whole lot more tolerable and a lot less embarrassing for all concerned. 1 set of false chompers out of 5 www.jordanandeddie.wordpress.com Rated 1 out of 5 stars 01/17/23 Full Review Audience Member I guess you have to have half a brain and understand William Faulkner to appreciate this film. It was NOT the book, but certainly has the spirit of it. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/22/23 Full Review Read all reviews
The Sound & the Fury

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Cast & Crew

Movie Info

Synopsis The Compson family struggles to adjust to the changes in society during the early 20th century in the Deep South.
Director
James Franco
Producer
Caroline Aragon, Lee Caplin, Vince Jolivette, Miles Levy
Screenwriter
Matt Rager
Production Co
New Films International, Rabbit Bandini Productions, Picture Entertainment Corporation
Genre
Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Streaming)
Mar 12, 2020
Runtime
1h 41m
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