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Sling Blade

7.2

2,497

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6

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Original title

Sling Blade

Year

1996

Running time

130 min.

Country

United States

Director

Billy Bob Thornton

Screenwriter

Billy Bob Thornton. Play: Billy Bob Thornton

Cast

Music

Daniel Lanois

Cinematography

Barry Markowitz

Producer

Miramax, Shooting Gallery

Genre

Drama | Disability. Southern Gothic

Synopsis

Karl Childers, now a grown man, is released from a psychiatric hospital where he has been hospitalized since the age of 12 for the murder of his mother and her lover. He returns to his childhood town and although being mentally handicapped, gets a job fixing small motors at a local repair shop. Karl befriends a young boy, Frank, and is soon invited by Frank's mother, Linda, to move into the family's garage. As a strong relationship develops between Karl and Frank, a confrontation builds with Linda's abusive and sometimes violent boyfriend Doyle.

Awards: 1996: Oscar: Best Adapted Screenplay. 2 Nominations

1996: National Board of Review: Special Award (Billy Bob Thornton)

1996: Satellite Awards: 3 Nominations including Actor Drama (Billy Bob Thornton)

1996: Writers Guild of America (WGA): Best Adapted Screenplay

1996: Screen Actors Guild (SAG): Nom. Best Cast & Actor (Thornton)

1996: Independent Spirit Awards: Best First Feature

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Critics' reviews

"A story that's startling, soulful and absolutely unforgettable"

Edward Guthmann: SFGATE
"The film's characters, setting and cadences draw us into its world, with all its terrors and tenderness. What emerges is a masterpiece of Southern storytelling that draws a sharp line between good and evil"

Rita Kempley: The Washington Post
"It's a beautiful contraption of a movie, a gothic backwoods fable that uses its naive yet murderous hero to walk a fine line between sentimentality and dread."

Owen Gleiberman: Entertainment Weekly
Perhaps the most remarkable thing here is Thornton's nuanced performance, but the film has other rare virtues: all the characters are fully and richly fleshed out, and the story's construction is carefully measured"

Jonathan Rosenbaum: Chicago Reader
"Takes you down paths full of primitive, almost biblical implications, but it also finds comic relief in moments of palpable tension"

Desson Thomson: The Washington Post
"Billy Bob Thornton wrote, directed and stars in this compassionate, occasionally funny, character-driven movie about a mentally unstable man who takes the best interests of children very seriously"

Jami Bernard: New York Daily News

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User history

Sling Blade

1996

Billy Bob Thornton

7.2

(2,497)