Sling Blade

Billy Bob Thornton, 1997 (135 mins, Cert. 15)

Billy Bob Thornton won last year's Oscar for Best Actor for his powerful, compelling performance as a man who has spent most of his life in a mental hospital, and who is now released to face the world. Getting a job mending lawn mowers, he befriends a young boy and his mother, but his gentle personality is tested by the mother's cruel boyfriend. Sling Blade is a compelling and highly original story of a man's attempt to find inner and personal freedom, whatever the price.
(Barbican publicity)

This film moves with the slow, sure pace of Thornton's character, Karl, as it carries the fascinated viewer inexorably towards the well-telegraphed ending. The straightforward story is simply told at a leisurely pace, but attention never flags as every word spoken and every action depicted counts for something. This is an impressively well-made, well acted film in which all the cast convince but it's very much Thornton's vehicle: we see the rights and wrongs of the situation only from his character's point of view. A highly concentrated experience. Highly recommended.
(Steve Fagg)

Seen: Monday, 20th July, 1998 (Barbican 1)