| SLING BLADE |
 1996
- USA
Director: Billy
Bob Thornton - Reviewed by Linda
Karl Childers (played by Billy Bob) is one of the most bizarre, and certainly most memorable characters to show up on the big screen in quite awhile. He is a mentally disabled man who has just been released from custody at a state hospital for the killing of his mother and her lover when he was just a 12-year-old boy. He speaks in grunts, with his chin-jutted out, his pants pulled up high, and lopes along the street at a deliberate pace. On his release, he makes friends with a boy (Lucas Black) who brings him home to live in the garage in the back yard. The boy's trusting mother Linda (Natalie Canerday) is a kind-hearted soul, with an asshole boyfriend Doyle (Dwight Yoakam!), and a gentle, protective gay man (John Ritter!) as her best friend. Place all these characters in a small, all-American Southern town, and you have what some critics have called a "Southern Gothic" tale: dark, a bit claustrophobic, with a sense of doom despite the attempts of everyone trying to make the best of their lives. The acting is astonishing, especially by Billy Bob Thornton, who starred, directed, and wrote Sling Blade. He surrounds himself by an excellent supporting cast all-around, even down to the most minor characters (a scene of Doyle and his friends having a rock band rehearsal is absolutely priceless). There is humor, without degrading the small-town characters, and the gentle momentum of the film leads to an inevitable, but still surprisingly moving climax. Sling Blade gets my highest recommendation. "Ummm... hmmm!" |
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I
just have to say that Billy Bob Thornton is all that and a bag of chips!
How did I miss Sling Blade when it first came out? Why did it take me so
long to see it? After only the first half an hour or so of this film, I was
already launching it into the stratosphere of one of the best American films of
the 90s (and, yes, you can quote me on that).