Sling Blade

Director: Billy Bob Thornton
Cast:
Billy Bob Thornton
Dwight Yoakam
J.T. Walsh
John Ritter

Billy Bob Thornton's Oscar nomination comes as a surprise only to those who haven't seen "Sling Blade"—he so fully inhabits his quasi-retarded character that any interviews with the writer/director in real life are incredibly jarring. The movie centers around the release of Karl Childers (Thornton) into the world after decades of confinement in a mental hospital. Incarcerated since he killed his mother and her lover with a mowing blade as a teen, he has a philosophical and wrenching innocence that surpasses Raymond in "Rain Man" and even Chauncey Gardner in "Being There." Ultimately befriending a small boy in obvious peril, Karl's story is heartbreaking without being maudlin, morally ambiguous without being clever. With surprisingly wonderful bit parts from John Ritter and Dwight Yoakum, you MUST see this movie.

—Ian Williams

Return to Ian's movie reviews.