SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Exoticalot People are voting emotionally.

Kaydan Christian A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Mathilde the Guild Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

natashaisac Could have been really interesting subject matter until Jesus saved the day.

emilyrf718 What a wonderful story for such an unrecognized film! The story is about a 10-year-old girl Cadi Forbes living in the Appalachians in the 1850's. She is of Welsh descendant, with some of her ancestors moving to the Americas and staking a claim in the mountains, creating her village. With the immigrants came their custom of the Sin Eater - when a person died, the sin eater came to eat the sins away so the deceased can rest in peace. When Cadi finds herself burdened with a terrible sin of her own, she seeks out the Sin Eater to take away her sins now. When she finds no consolation in him, she feels helpless until a Man of God comes into her village preaching of the Lord and his power to save. She and her friend Fagan Kai listen to the stranger until Fagan's abusive father comes and forces them to flee. Things go awry, and Cadi and Fagan stumble upon dark secrets while trying to run. Secrets that have been kept ever since the immigrants first moved here, and that must be spilled now, all revolving around the mysterious Sin Eater... I give it 9 out of ten because the acting is awkward in places, though there are still lots of spots that shine through it all. Very interesting twists in the plot and a good message at the end. A beautiful insight to 1850's Welsh culture in America, something until now I was incredibly ignorant of.Overall, a heart-warming story with likable characters, including the sin-eater. I assume the PG-13 is for violence, or some language that I might have missed, but nevertheless an amazing movie to watch and very emotional. I thoroughly recommend this movie to anyone willing be opened to new movies; I have found that the large-budget films are not the only films that should be recognized for their good plots and good feelings. Enjoy!

Bosco-HK I enjoyed tremendously of many things in the movie, one of which that has most probably been mentioned in all other comments made, the Sin Eater (Peter Wingfield) was played with excellence. His sad deep voice in pain for all those years of suffering to take hold the sins of the ones who have passed. It is extremely awful for him to realize the truth at the end and that he decided that it was pointless to act violently on the one who has cheated his life all those years, he had become a true 'Sin Eater' at that very moment.He is however not the only character I enjoyed, I liked how Fagan Kai (Soren Fulton) stood up for everything he does. He is a great listener and does not follow his fatherly ways, Brogan Kai (Stewart Finlay-McLennan), who was brought up that way by his fatherly figure Laochailand Kai (Michael Flynn). It was so brutal of his father, Brogan, to beat his own son like that.The best character in my opinion is none other than the main female character, Cadi Forbes (Liana Liberato). A definite non-follower who hath bestowed herself with a sin that she has caused her little sister, Elen Forbes (Molly Jepson), to fall in the 'Narrows' that very 'cursed day' over a fight for the doll and for all the years since her little sister was born, her mother, Fia Forbes (Elizabeth Lackey) has always provided everything for Elen, and not Cadi. Liana expressed her deepest emotions with her greatest effort in all of her scenes to be scared, to be cautious, to be brave, to pretend and to BELIEVE in the Man of God (Henry Thomas), in Jesus Christ and God, and ultimately achieve her heart's goal. However, I did not very much enjoy all the different slapping scenes between mother and child, between the two sisters, and most of all between the most cruel and coldhearted father of Fagan and Cadi. -That's the way at all!-I felt that the scene where Miz Elda (Louise Fletcher) accidentally spilled the beans of the 'Dead Man's Mountain'. Not to forget the other actors and actresses like Cadi's 'Pa', Angor Forbes (A.J. Buckley), Lilybet (Thea Rose) the little mysterious girl who guided Cadi -like a guardian angel of Cadi's younger sister, Elen (Molly Jepson), who has forgiven her older sister, that's what I thought-. I enjoyed her line: "Do you trust me, Cadi?" And Cadi replies: "I told you 'Yes' already." Lilybet is an interesting character whom was also later cleared up somewhat at the end -sorta, with that line from Old Cadi: "Little Bit of Heaven". Most unforgettable of all characters is Bletsung McLeod (Gabrielle Fitzpatrick) who was never able to be with whom she loved the most all those years... She "would have been such a 'good ma'". And I agree to that line, mentioned once or twice in the entire movie.I recommend this movie for its religious purposes, as well as to check out the fantastic role Liana Liberato played. Every moment I felt like I was the child who believed in something so deep that I would too, run away and finish it -if I had such a quest-.

FelineFiend 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.