EYE OF GOD (1997)

 

Written & Directed By: Tim Blake Nelson 

Cinematography: Russell Lee Fine 

Editor: Kate Sanford 

Cast: Kevin Anderson, Hal Holbrook, Martha Plimpton, Nick Stahl, Richard Jenkins, Margo Martindale, Mary Kay Place, Chris Freihofer

A small Oklahoma town is stripped of its innocence when one of its boys turns up mute and bloodied by the lakeside. Unable to tell his story, the local sheriff embarks on a quest to uncover the roots of a gruesome crime. He’s led to Ainsley DuPree and her new husband, Jack, a man whose interest in family may very well outweigh his morals.

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This is one of those films where the less you know going in the better the film will be for you and the grand are the experience, though as a warning must let you know this film is devastating.

It’s told like a puzzle as pieces fit together as we get more and more of the story. It gets deeper as it goes along and more tragic.

Especially after starting out on a high note, the film is low budget that feels lived in within an impressive cast firing on all cylinders and not armed with monologues or speeches, but in there on voices playing the mundane every day, I’m making us care about these characters

Martha Plimpton is absolutely heartbreaking in this film how Holbrook is regal and Kevin Anderson is truly a chameleon of charm and rage. And he is a snake that’s colorful and cute to look at, but does have that venom within them and could bite at any moment.

This film started out as a play from writer/Director 

Tim BlakeNelson and ended up becoming his directorial debut that was developed at the Sundance Institute and is quite the powerful debut.

this is one of those films where you feel the emotional gut punch by the end.

One hopes more people discovered this film as it is truly an undiscovered Gem. It reminds one of the Richard Marx song HAZARD. At times, it plays more melodramatic, but that’s to convince the audience of how simple it might seem and be, though it’s waiting to pack a punch.

It’s a mystery you don’t know you are entering as it plays more like a drama other than the drawing opening which ends up being nearly and ended that was the only appearance of violence in the film, though it does give you a hint of where the story will probably eventually lead

Grade: A-