SLING BLADE
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1997 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule: Okay, so the film is about a mentally
retarded murderer who killed his own mother. This
is a film of comedy and pathos as well as horror.
Billy Bob Thornton, co-writer of ONE FALSE MOVE,
writes, directs, and stars in one terrific film.
The plot may be a bit straightforward but the film
is an audience- pleaser. It is a well-observed
film about life in an Arkansas town. Expect to
enjoy this one. Rating: +3 (-4 to +4)
New York Critics: 15 positive, 2 negative, 1 mixed
Very little seen but central to the film TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD is the figure of Boo Radley, played by Robert Duvall in his theatrical cinema debut. For years Radley has been his town's legendary monster stemming from an act of seemingly senseless violence against his own family. Radley is, in reality, a simple and likable man who redeems himself by another act of violence, a revolt against the hatred of others. Radley is not responsible for his own violence, but focuses the callousness and evil around him, redirecting it back at its origin. A nearly identical character--right down to having his shirt sleeves too long--is Karl Childers, the center of an enigmatic black comedy that is at times horrifying and at others amiable. SLING BLADE was written by, directed by, and stars Billy Bob Thornton. It is an expansion of the short film "Some Folks Call It a Sling Blade," directed by George Hickenlooper but also written by and directed by Thornton. In both films he plays Karl Childers a patient in an Arkansas state mental institution. Life there would not be bad if he did not have to be immersed in the sadistic sexual recountings of another patient, a predator played superbly by J. T. Walsh.
Karl is given a chance to tell his own story to a visiting reporter and though presented in a horrifying manner we begin to see Karl as a victim, yet somehow one without an ounce of self-pity. If we blame Karl's parents for his condition, it is our decision and not Karl's. Karl remains completely dispassionate about his past and his ability to do so makes his even more disturbing. Maintaining through the film a stone-like face with jutting lower lip he never shows any emotion. We are never sure what is happening behind that face and indeed when one of the characters probes later in the film we find it is either nothing or more likely it is well-hidden. Reportedly up to Karl telling his own story was all there was to Hickenlooper's original short film, but Thornton was apparently intrigued by the character he had written and played. SLING BLADE continues the story with Karl being released into what is for him a bewildering world.
Karl is out for just a few hours when he befriends a boy about twelve, Frank (Lucas Black) with roughly Karl's own mental capacity. Karl and the unquestioning Frank become fast friends and he is accepted almost as a family member in Frank's distressed family. That Frank's mother Linda (Natalie Canderday) accepts Karl seems almost more believable than her acceptance of her own abusive boy friend Doyle (Dwight Yoakam). Doyle is a bad ol' boy who verbally savages Karl, Frank, and Vaughan (John Ritter), Linda's gay boss.
The plot from this point follows a predictable path, but the story is not as important as the style and the textured look at life in a small Arkansas town. One can tell when a script is respected by the people who agree to be in small roles in the film. In SLING BLADE one spots several familiar faces in tiny roles including Jim Jarmusch as an ice cream stand boy and Robert Duvall in a tiny part as Karl's father, perhaps as an allusion to his own Boo Radley role. The photography is usually a bit straightforward and not as interesting as it could be, but as a first-time director Thornton has a sure hand. And he writes a script that is by turns sad, horrifying, and funny. If the ending is a little too neat, it also is clever and ironic.
The subject matter may not be to everybody's taste but the film is a winner on just about all counts. Rate this one a +3 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark R. Leeper
mleeper@lucent.com
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews