Sling Blade
Cuts to the quick

// The skinny: Karl has recently been released from a mental hospital 20 years after killing two people including his mother. As he tries to assimilate into society he befriends a young boy and his single mother.

// Review: When we are first introduced to Karl we immediately sense that something is just not right with him. The hospital warden has to control the environment to very particular settings in order for Karl to even be around people. Then we find out that he is being released that day and you wonder at what a bad idea that would be. By chance he meets a boy named Frank. He is a friendly kid who has been yearning for a father figure since his own committed suicide. But Karl is an unlikely candidate since he is a murderer and mentally challenged. But this unconventional relationship, which is the centerpiece of this film, blossoms and soon he is living in Frank's garage at his mother's invitation.

/ It seems like Karl is getting a first chance at true happiness since he had a rather horrific childhood that led to his grizzly killing of a teenage boy while he was having sex with Karl's mother. The big problem is that Frank's mother is trapped in an abusive relationship with a very hateful and cruel man. Every time you get a hope that things are turning for the best, Doyle rears his head and that hope is turned to despair.

/ It's interesting that you wouldn't think that a slightly retarded man who doesn't say or think much would evolve and grow. But Karl begins to change because for the first time in his life he feels that in Frank there is someone to love and protect. Because of Karl's murderous past and mental deficiencies, even though he is a gentle man, there is always a sense of a very dangerous slumbering giant. Once the movie settles in, things progress rather slowly reflected by the quiet small rural town they live in. But as small foreshadowing clues are dropped you suddenly get a shocking revelation of how it all will end.

// Wrap up: This movie is brilliant in capturing real life. The problems, the dysfunctions, the realities are all extremely believable. It's not Hollywood in the sense you feel the hope and sadness of the fact that life is just messy. This is a good change of pace from the high explosive CGI laden movie fare.

Entertainment rating: 3