User reviews

This is an often shocking but necessary film about a young girl called Bone and the abuse she suffers at the hands of her stepfather, Daddy Glen. The film is hard to watch at times but there are lighter moments when Bone's extended family are on screen. The book contains a much wider scope and naturally many of these subplots didn't make it into the screenplay. Ultimately, the film feels a little rushed and could have benefited from another half hour or so.

The quality of the acting is patchy. Lyle Lovett's delivery of his few lines of dialogue is very wooden compared to Michael Rooker's excellent portrayal of gentle giant Earl. Jena Malone does a brilliant job in obviously difficult circumstances as young Bone. The look in her eyes breaks your heart whenever things are about to turn violent, making you want to rescue her yourself. Jennifer Jason Leigh is fine as Bone's mother but you feel like you never really get to see beneath the surface of her determined expression to understand her motives for standing by her man in the face of Glen's obvious resentment of her daughter.

Ron Eldard is excellent in his depiction Glen, expertly capturing the character's pathetic childishness behind those icy blue eyes. Eldard often seems to play characters with a dark side and this role plays to his strengths, even if his southern accent slips from time to time. His scenes of violence with Bone are harrowing to watch and you can't help but feel uncomfortable, given the age of Jena Malone at the time. I know it's 'only acting' but the scenes are very realistic and graphic for a young actress to endure.

The film is one that ought to be shown to any single mother tempted to jump into a relationship with a hot-headed young man with questionable intentions.

This is just a usual tale how a deeply stupid, dumb, senseless mother spoils the entire life of her daughter. The same story could be told in any part of the world. Oh yes, and be prepared to have your heart and soul tormented throughout the film.

I just finished watching this movie again for the third time in the last two days. Each time I watch it I discover something I missed in the previous viewing. There are no wasted lines or scenes. It is a powerful 1996 movie with excellent performances, dealing with the touchy subject of child abuse.

Anjelica Huston is the director and this is her first attempt at directing a feature length movie. The results are stunning. It is altogether a flawless movie, with an excellent script based on the Dorothy Allison novel, and stars Jena Malone as the young protagonist. Jennifer Jason Leigh is in the tough role of the mother torn between the choices she faces in loving both her daughter and the abusive stepfather. Many times throughout the movie I sat on the edge of my seat stunned by the action happening onscreen. It is not a movie with pat answers and predictable solutions, but manages to show the complexities involved in each situation. There are no cardboard characters either, as in real life not everyone is totally good or evil, though their actions may dip into either category from time to time.

The most compelling performance, in a film loaded with excellent acting, comes from young Malone, who commands a role that many adult actresses would no doubt have trouble handling. Her face tells a thousand stories with each shot giving a multi-leveled meaning to the deeper motivations that lie within her character.

After the credits Glenne Headly provides further information about the subject and a child abuse hotline number, which is a great addition to a film of this sort. It is not "entertainment" per se, but more along the lines of an informational public service. The symptoms of child abuse are highlighted throughout the movie and the effect of everyone's participation documented as fair warning to the viewer.

I can't praise this movie enough. A film like this raises my awareness and compassion level and makes me want to reach out to help in any way I can. It exceeds expectations in just about every way imaginable.

I'll say this right now, this movie was very realistic. It's true, yes, mothers, and parents do not believe their children enough when it comes to child abuse... This movie depicts what many of us went through, and that's hell when an adult beats and abuses us.

In my opinion, the mother is very guilty, when the first time they found that Bone got abused by the "daddy". The first half of the movie is a pain to sit through, as nothing is happening, and feels forced in. But then the other half is very realistic, and tragic to look at.

I think the first 30 minutes of the movie, barely connect to the movie, and then the other 1 hour was the movie itself. Acting amazing. This was a movie about a girl being completely placed behind by her mother, who cares more about finding a husband, and cares more for the husband, while she's all alone with her little sister. Even when the abuse begins, the mother just lets it be, instead of acting up instantly...

I thought this film was rather weak. While the performance rendered by Jena Malone (Bone) was heartbreaking and painful, the rest of the film fell short of being anywhere near an "8" (as reflected by the IMDb vote). I felt the characters were stereotypical and unconvincing. Furthermore, the subject matter was approached with a very narrow viewpoint, and I found the violence to be rather gratuitous. Overall, the film left me unsatisfied; not because of the uncomfortable theme, but because the acting was inadequate, the characters were flat, and the film appealed to it's audience on a purely emotional level through excessive and disturbing images.

This film is a heart wrenching look at child abuse. The plot revolves around a young girl as she suffers mental, physical and sexual abuse at the hands of her stepfather. She watches her mother struggle between the love she has for her child and the love she has for her husband.

Let's start off by saying that the performances in this film are sincere and it pulls the viewer into the reality of this child. I found myself feeling for her and hating the mother and stepfather. It was almost a relief to see that extended family was so willing to be there for the child. So, the story here is difficult but touching. My only complaint was that I wanted to see more. I wanted to see this child excelle despite her circumstances.

I'm really glad I decided to finally sit down and watch this. It was so worth it.

An excellent cast who do their best with an awful script, inept direction, and some of the worst score that I have ever heard. More TV movie of the week than serious drama. Which is sad when one considers that the source material is very serious and very real. The film makers decided that instead of building drama and character, it was better to just show the most graphic and violent bits and hope that the audience would be shocked into sympathy and caring. In my opinion, one the most blatant forms of cut and paste film adapting.

"Bastard Out of Carolina" is by far the most disturbing film I have ever seen. At the same time, it is one of the finest films to be made in history. Words cannot explain how deeply this film affected me, I couldn't move when the credits rolled up, I could do nothing but think about what I had just seen. The performances here are nothing but astonishing. Jennifer Jason Leigh gives a wonderful, heart-felt performance, and at times you just want to slap her and say "wake up!". The greatest performance in this film though is by Jena Malone. Wow, I've never seen such an intense performance by any actress let alone a child actress.

All in all, a great film. *****/out of 5

I just watched this movie in my Advanced Developmental Psychology class, and I was blown away by it. Naturally, the professor warned us that the film contained some very graphic scenes, as it certainly did. There were moments where I absolutely could not look up at the screen. The film is wonderfully directed (by Anjelica Huston) and acted. Jennifer Jason Leigh gives one of the best performances of her career. She's one of those actresses who has talent and I have nothing against her, but rarely do I find myself raving about her performances. Here, she's given a genuinely challenging role, as she has to be both disturbed by her new husband's abuse towards her daughter, yet at the same time deeply in love with him. My class is predominantly female, so most of the girls were groaning and yelling out things like "You're stupid!" when she kept deciding to get back with the creep. But it's easy to say that while you're sitting on your butt looking at a TV screen. Tons of women get into relationships with abusive husbands, and guys who treat them like crap, and how many of them actually get out of those relationships? Love is a strange, strange thing. There's no way to explain it. But I didn't feel it was in any way inaccurate for Leigh's character to keep wanting to get back with Ron Eldard.

I know Eldard from his role on the cancelled sitcom "Men Behaving Badly" and his supporting roles in films like "Sleepers" and "The Last Supper." Prior to this movie, I would've never envisioned him in this sort of role, as I didn't really think of him as a daring, intense actor. I would envision an actor like Ray Liotta or James Woods in this sort of role. But I think Eldard's apparent naivete really gives dimension to this role. He doesn't in any way appear like someone who would act abusive towards anyone, as it usually turns out in real life. He also plays the character with a certain charm, which gives us some insight into why Leigh decided to stay with him. Of course, he never gets a handle on the Carolina accent (at times even sounding like an Englishman, as he struggles so hard), but as I got more and more into the film, I barely paid attention to the flaws in his accent. After watching this film, I will definitely look at Eldard much differently, as much more than the fun-loving buddy of Rob Schneider on "Men Behaving Badly" (a show I used to watch pretty frequently).

The cast is also composed of fine character actors, like Glenne Headley and Michael Rooker--who's absolutely terrific as Leigh's short-fused brother. Of course, that isn't an unusual role for him, but he plays it very well and packs a great dramatic punch in this performance especially. Jena Malone shows why she grew up to star in big films like "Stepmom" and "For Love of the Game." Even at this age, she is fully convincing as a tortured young girl. I just kept on wondering what the director gave her as motivation for her different emotions, since I'm guessing they couldn't outwardly address the issues or rape and abuse to a girl of her age.

The film contains some of the most disturbing scenes in American cinema (I stress the word "American," because I've seen more graphic rape scenes in foreign films like "The Bandit Queen" and "Pixote"), so even those with stomachs of steel should beware. But how many films you watch really get you talking and thinking, and send you an emotional journey--without using cheap shots? I don't have A.D.D. or anything, but rarely do I get so lost in a film that my attention never drifts and I never take time to look at my watch. This is one of those rare powerful, touching films that I will never forget!

My score: 9 (out of 10)

Not for the Squeamish! It deals with sexual abuse of children. I saw an interview with Jenna Malone and she was emphatic to re-assure people that she was not herself abused during this film, she got along very well with Ron Eldard, and that she understood that it was acting, etc. I'll bet that some actors turned down the role, given the subject matter. From a standpoint of dealing with the subject matter honestly the director Angelica Huston pulled no punches. There's a haunting scene where Eldard was sitting in a car with Jena on his lap and he abuses her - I'm sure it was a very difficult scene to film! But it's a "must see" for the realistic portrayal of a true story.

Sure, it's imperfect, but then so are most classics. "It's a Wonderful Life" is loaded with stereotypes, banalities, and over-acting. "Casablanca" features trite dialog, and the characters of Paul Henreid and Ingrid Bergman seem pretty wishy-washy for supposed heroes. "Bastard" is a biographical tale. Biographies often are episodic and lack continuity just as real life is episodic and lacks continuity. Biographical dialog is sometimes unimaginative because it reflects real life speech; none of us has a professional writer feeding us our lines. However, what "Bastard" does have are unforgettable scenes and images of profound emotional impact, a gritty set of down-home characters presented with gutsy reality by a superlative cast, and Jena Malone. Actually, Miss Malone has relatively few lines in this movie, but her expressive face, and especially her fantastic eyes speak clearly and powerfully from the depths of her heart in every scene. And the lines she does speak stab into our hearts with deadly accuracy. A memorable performance in a memorable movie.

Anjelica Huston, an unequivocally wise and intuitive actress, takes on a dark, rambling Southern tale for her first directorial effort, an adaptation of Dorothy Allison's book with so many peaks and valleys it plays like a chopped up TV mini-series, the CliffsNotes version. Story centers on an illegitimate young girl (Jena Malone) in the South during the 1950s and her woebegone waitress-mother (Jennifer Jason Leigh), who has had terrible luck with men. Seems her third husband (Ron Eldard) has a violent streak when provoked, and when he begins lashing out at the child in both violent and sexual ways, relatives step in to help her. Rare to find a cast so full of solid acting talent, yet this script takes great pains to introduce characters without giving them anything to do (some of the relatives, like the uptown cousin played by Christina Ricci or Dermot Mulroney's doomed Husband #2, appear and disappear in record time). The central performances are fine, with pre-teen Malone doing some very nice work; a child actress with a solemn reserve and faraway eyes, Malone is perhaps too studied in her approach (she isn't an untrained natural), yet Huston handles her gently and some of the strongest moments are the ones where Malone is allowed to take a breath and emote. However, this film, a failed theatrical effort which was sold instead to cable television, is packed (or padded, as it were) with short-hand tragedy, and the editing is so poor and the narrative so confusing you might need a scorecard to keep up with all the melodrama. Despite her sensitivity in staging some shattering scenes, Huston doesn't allow the picture to flow, to absorb the audience. It's jagged and piqued, and one recoils from it instead of being drawn into the plot. ** from ****

This is an excellent movie with 5 star acting for all actors involved. I've heard many comments that this movie should be pulled from the shelves, or that it's too sensitive of subject matter. Frankly, if you do not know the difference between watching a movie and acting, then do not watch this movie. For those who can appreciate the drama and lessons shown in film, this is a superb tale. Bastard Out Of Carolina is exactly that, a story about a "bastard" who commits one of life's most horrific tragedies; sexual child abuse. It will have you cringing and crying, but despite all the emotions it pulls out of you, it's no different then many other films depicting tragedy in some humans lives, be that death, divorce, illness, or child abuse. It does the job of showing us the reality of child rape extremely well.

I have wanted to see this film for a long time due to the controversy and critical acclaim and I was not disappointed. The acting is superb especially from Jena Malone who did an amazing job. Jennifer Jason Leigh, Michael Rooker and Ron Eldard were also very good. Even though the subject matter is disturbing the story should be told because this is what happens in the world we live in. I strongly recommend this film although as many people have said it is very disturbing, nonetheless this important film should be seen. The book is supposed to be better and although I can't compare the film should be seen. Well done Angelica Huston!!

8/10

I'm a big Jena Malone fan,so i decided to watch this movie, and yeah, this horrible thing must be stop, children don't deserve to be treated that horrible way. This story broke my heart caused it reminded me my own story, when i was 8 years old, i was sexual harrased by my uncle (remember car scene? It happened to me)then he tried to rape me once, i lived in shame because of his bad touches, but when you are a kid you live afraid, and by that time i was visiting my aunt, so i just spent a couple of months there, my parents were abroad and so was my older sister, i thank god she didn't go through what i went through, i never told anyone till a couple of months ago, i'm 18 years old now and i thank god that he didn't rape me, and believe me he tried more than once, and he had many chances but lucky me something always came up to stop him. Now i can say i got over that, but it's difficult for me to rely on someone else, especially men, and i can say i'm always watching and asking questions to my cousins if anyone is touching them in a bad way, so this story and my story have helped me to be more careful towards children, cause they are always afraid to speak about these things, so my advice is that this is something real, it happened to me and happens to other children, so my advice is "watch out" cause these things happen more often than people think, and specially inside the own families

I saw this on Movie Central one cold, Greg day and I have never been able to forget it. Ron Eldard is completely believable in his performance, and will both captivate and horrify you. All the characters in this movie have such a subtlety to them. Houston's directorial debut enhances the performances of these talented actors. You know there is love, of a kind, between the family members. Yet one of the most compelling aspects to this movie is the flat and joyless undertone to the characters. Anney (Jennifer Jason Leigh) stands out in her family because she is an emotional firecracker - her emotions are almost a separate character from that of Anney Boatwright. Special mention must go to Jena Malone for her sophisticated, passionate portrayal of Anney's young daughter, 'Bone'. Bone carries the weight of her mother's world on her shoulders. This is her first major role to speak of and she carries the movie effortlessly.