Touches You

hyped garbage

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

This is a 25-minute short film from over 20 years ago written by and starring Billy Bob Thornton, who was still in his 4th marriage at that point and hadn't even met Angelina Jolie, his 5th of (so far) 6 wives. The director is Emmy winner George Hickenlooper and Thornton's co-stars are Golden Globe nominee Molly Ringwald and Emmy nominee J.T. Walsh. The latter is the only one of the trio who returned for the full feature movie that was loosely based on this short film. Hickenlooper and Walsh died very early. Thornton went on to win an Oscar for "Sling Blade" in the Screenplay category beating the dominant movie from that year: "The English Patient".Anyway, this short black-and-white film here did not impress me too much. I cannot say that this somehow motivated me to watch the full feature film. The performances weren't too memorable and I have to say I did not find the story really great or think that Thornton's character could make it into my all-time favorite villain list. He plays a murderer in a prison / insane asylum who is paid a visit by a journalist who wants to interview him. There is a problem with the journalist being a woman early on, but none of this was really a factor during the actual interview, which was really more of a monologue. All in all, I hoped this would be better. Not recommended.

There are similarities to Hamlet, though it's not an exact replica: The tormented main character, instead of the Prince of Denmark, appears in the form of a mentally retarded man born to a cruel father and mother in a rural Southern setting. He, like Hamlet, is faced with a big decision, one that the "ordinary" folks are unwilling and incapable of making, and for which he is totally unprepared..or so it would seem. His retardation renders him "youthful" though he is advanced in physical age, so he is ill-equipped for the huge life issues forced on him. Even the royalty of the Old World can be seen in shadowy form in the Deep Southern town where the Aristocracy once ruled over its Plantations, and which now has no grandeur remaining, and little sense of direction. How similar to the corrupt kingdom of Denmark which faced Prince Hamlet!Though dark, the movie has many heart-warming and humorous moments. A humbling experience to watch, it's one of my favorite films of all time. I LOVED this movie and enjoy re-watching the excellent and unforgettable performances. Bob

Pretty much everything has been said by previous reviewers here. It is probably pertinent to add that but for the success of this little independent number, the full length SLING BLADE most probably would never have gotten made three years later.Obviously a labor of love for creator Billy Bob Thornton. He presents a markedly different Karl Childers here. As retardedly backward but infinitely more menacing. It was probably on reflection that the character was made more "marketable" and sympathetic the second time around. Both films are such an absorbing focus on what is essentially a simple man turned (by dint of social expectation) feral by circumstances totally outside his control. The villain of the piece of course was Karl's father, played in a marvellous one-off cameo by Robert Duvall in the feature-length film.In SOME FOLKS CALL IT A SLING BLADE, the reporter is played by Molly Ringwald. Many seem not to have approved of her interpretation of the part, preferring the cutesy high-school reporter in the 1996 release. I thought she handled it well, after all she was dealing with a quite different "Karl Childers.'Either way, this makes for a fascinating back-up to SLING BLADE. If anything, it adds to one's understanding of the man himself.

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.