The Last Sin Eater (2007) Reviews

• Poor editing destroyed a good movie

  FelineFiend2007-04-14

  This movie had very good elements, a grieving family, a community secret, dark undertones, a message of hope.....but it was all destroyed by the editing. While this movie was being filmed, the emotions were palpable on the set; the hair on the back of my neck stood up many times. Unfortunately, the director was so concerned about not showing any violence on screen, that all the passion was edited out. Mr. Landon edited the most emotional scenes like it was an MTV video. He did not allow many of the camera shots to stay with one character for more than 2 seconds. This created very choppy scenes and disconnected his audience from the story. Mr. Landon did allow the scenic shots to pan, and zoom in (they were beautiful shots due to the DP), but we could have done with shorter scenic shots and longer camera time during the emotional scenes. The three most disappointing scenes were Brogan Kai choking Caddie, the Sin Eater taking Caddie's sins away, and the Indian Massacre scenes. When these were being filmed, many of the crew had tears in their eyes. You could have heard a pin drop, no one was breathing. These were intense, emotional scenes, and Mr. Landon edited them down to very bad, home movie play-acting. It is ashame, because Mr. Landon directed this film very nicely, and the original camera shots stayed on the actors for a much longer time. Mr. Landon should not have been allowed in the editing room.

• An interesting, compelling, educational release based on the Christian faith

  josbornegdr2007-01-27

  Fox Faith has released a Christian movie that is interesting, compelling, educational and yet based on the Christian faith. Michael Landon Jr. did an excellent job of directing The Last Sin Eater that appears in theaters throughout the Lewisville-Denton-Sherman triangle. Try to get to see it if you can, it's worth the 2-hour investment. I googled (is that a verb?) sin eater and found the practice was Welsh and defined as, "A person actually making his living as an outcast who eats food from the chests of the dead, taking those (persons) sins upon himself, to leave pure the departing soul. Usually each village had its official sin-eater to whom notice was given as soon as a death occurred. A groat (a small coin), a crust of bread and a bowl of ale were either handed him or placed upon the breast of the departed, and after he had eaten and drunk he rose and pronounced the ease and rest of the dead person, for whom he thus pawned his own soul." I can tell you right now to not expect the usual. It starts out creepy — filled with historical, religious and superstitious overtones — turns into a mystery — while you puzzle out the protagonist's (Cadi Forbes portrayed very well by Liana Liberato) problem — whips back to when the Welsh first came to the Appalachian Mountains for the reason for the creation of the sin eater, throws in a romantic triangle then segues to a happy ending. The major fault I found with the film, since my eyes are not what they used to be, is the number of scenes that take place in semi-darkness, but even then, that's something I'm getting used to and the film is definitely worth the eyestrain.

• Review

  sims-192007-02-08

  I saw a pre-screening for "The Last Sin Easter" land it is a wonderful movie. The location was beautiful and the acting was outstanding – especially by Liana Liberato as well as Soren Fulton. Liana was amazing as Cadi Forbes. Other standouts: Stewart Finlay-McLennan was excellent and brought a lot of energy and ferocity to his role as the tyrant of the cove, Brogan Kai, and Henry Thomas was very good as the kind, sympathetic Man of God. Actually, all the actors did a very nice job. Plus, Brian Bird did a phenomenal job of orchestrating the essential, intricate plot and back-stories of the book into a movie script. The directing was good as well. A book character, Cadi's brother, was left out completely and the emphasis on the other "bad" Kai boys was also left out too but it is understandable that it was necessary in order to give more time to the main characters and their actions. The identity of Miz Elda (Louise Fletcher) and her relationship to Iona Kai and her friendship with Granny Forbes was not brought to light either but it wasn't necessary to understand that each child, Cadi and Fagan, had a trusting friendship with this woman. Gervase O'Dara's character was not as prominent as in the book, but, again a necessary omission for the time constraints of a movie. Therefore, I feel those out there who, like me, read and enjoyed the book, will not be disappointed at all (as sometimes happens with books being made into movies) because, as stated before, Brian Bird did an outstanding job of conveying the most important aspects and scenes of the book into the movie script. I highly recommend this movie, as it is certainly complementary of the book. Not to give away the ending but things were only very slightly changed from what I recall of the book and not quite as harsh. I liked the ending a lot but would have enjoyed a little longer monologue from Cadi telling us more of what happened to the cove and some of the people, but it still tied things together very nicely and was beautifully done. Although the movie does not leave you cheering, laughing or weeping it does have you leaving the theater very hopeful and satisfied as well as a bit contemplative. Jesus is given credit for being the true, original sin eater yet, for non-Christians, the movie is not preachy. It is a lovely movie and would be a good addition, when it comes out on DVD, to anyone's home library. Congratulations to all those who were involved from the grippers, make-up artists, drivers, and the other crewmembers to the cast, writers, producers and director.

• Small but excellent

  Angel-Ireul2007-05-18

  First off the budget is small so be kind. Its a pretty solid story although it probably could have been fleshed out and feels a little disjointed in places. It is still a solid film and an excellent addition for fans of Christian films, unlike many Christian films it does not whitewash its message. The best part of the film is the performance of Peter Wingfield as the Sin Eater. While he is almost a minor character as far as screen time his performance makes the film. His voice is so sorrowful in his scenes (he is hidden for the majority of the movie) that you could just sob for him. His pathos is spot on. He is not overly dramatic but succeeds in selling the believability of the film.

• Good acting, incoherent storytelling

  popdrome2007-05-19

  Let me start off by saying I am not a Christian (I DO believe in God but I'm afraid that doesn't make me a Christian) - and to answer your question: YES, this is a *Christian* movie, with a very clear message, but I won't spoil the plot for you. The story in a nutshell is the awakening of a Welsh community in early America, coming to terms with their dark history, seen through the eyes of a ten year old child. There are flaws. It's based on a novel, so the director had to make difficult choices to narrow down the plot for screen time. The editing wasn't good and led to some incoherency and superficial plot holes. The story sometimes wasn't going anywhere, and the 'horror' scenes best could've been left out, they seem out of place. Special effects looked cheap. Last and least: the accents. They should've invested a bit more in accent training because this sounded like a far fetched (teethless) dialect.. But there's some good performances to be admired. First of all, I tip my hat for Liana Liberato. What a great actress at such a young age. Secondly Soren Fulton did a great job and there was lots of chemistry between him and Liana. And what about Louise Fletcher?! Excellent. The actress who once played the horrid nurse Pratched (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest).. she performed wonderfully and was brilliantly cast. So let's see what we have here. If you take all these things into account and you're not scared off by evangelism - not bad for a Sunday afternoon.