Some Folks Call It a Sling Blade

I saw this movie when I rented a DVD that came with a lot of brief "movies" such as this. I wonder if it was done to show the head of a studio what a great feature length movie this would make. I enjoyed the short story format and was impressed with Molly Ringwold's acting.

I'm going to have to go out on a limb here and say that I enjoyed "Sling Blade" far more than this short, which preceded the feature film by three years. Maybe it was the snotty, hands-on-hips, childish performance by Molly Ringwald that bothered me here. Or maybe it was the horribly stereotyped view of the residents of what, in the full-length, Karl calls the "nervous hospital." Yes, the short strongly resembles the opening of the full-length film, but I think it's weaker in many ways. The cinematography is better in the feature film (and I have no problem with black and white); Molly Ringwald's performance really sours the whole 25 minutes; and left on its own, this opening really implies things I don't like. Rather than actually speculating on how Karl will deal with living unsupervised, it seems to portray all the residents of the hospital as soulless victims. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to feel at the end of the film. At the end of "Sling Blade," I felt I had gotten to know a man. At the end of "Some Folks Call It a Sling Blade," I just thanked my lucky stars that Billy Bob Thornton decided to direct a version of it himself.

I have mixed feelings about this short. Sling Blade is my all time favorite movie. I absolutely fell in love with it the first time I saw it and I still never tire of watching it. This, on the other hand, is an entirely different take on the Karl Childers character. While he is likeable and friendly in Sling Blade, he is intimidating and scary in "Some Folks Call it a Sling Blade". Also, I could not stand Molly Ringwold's version of the reporter. She was bitter, hateful, and downright cold while the reporter in Sling Blade has a timid, sweet manner and is kind to Karl. The ending left you with an odd feeling (yes, I know all of this was intentional) and made you wonder just WHY they were letting this menacing person out of the "nervous hospital".

This is a very well done short. The mood is dark, the setting is perfect, and Hickenlooper really seems to know what he is doing. I just wasn't too crazy about his interpretation of the story. Had I seen this before I saw the full-length version, I'm sure I would have enjoyed it a lot more.

The video has a really cool "behind the scenes" featurette that is a must for fans of Sling Blade.

Oh, and thank you Billy Bob, for giving us YOUR interpretation of the story and telling it the way it was meant to be told.

I guess that if you are watching this, that means that you've already watched more known movie Sling Blade. Sling Blade is actually an extended version of this short, including the life of Karl after leaving a psychiatric institution. This short movie will leave you speechless. It's dark atmosphere, dark subject that it's dealing with, together with great performances from everyone, especially Billy Bob Thornton and Molly Ringwald, makes this an unforgettable experience. If you haven't seen Sling Blade yet, I suggest you to see it first, and then to see this movie.

Overall 9/10

All else aside I found her more credible as a journalist (the actress in the feature was more the "schoolgirl", which may have been intentional); Ringwald's performance did more to make me wonder at the end of the film just what she would write for her paper. Would that have been a distraction as we watched Carl's re-entry? I don't recall any followup to that in the feature.

Altogether this was fascinating, not to be compared head-to-head with the full-length film which has justly become an American classic. Films like "Sling Blade" can stand with the best of what is often considered superior European cinema.