MovieHoliks All-around "Renaissance Man", James Franco, directed and co-wrote this little period piece film based on the novel of the same name by Cormac McCarthy. Set in mountainous Sevier County, Tennessee, in the 1960s, "Child of God" tells the story of Lester Ballard, a dispossessed, violent man whom the narrator describes as "a child of God much like yourself perhaps." Ballard's life is a disastrous attempt to exist outside the social order of things. Deprived of parents and homes and with few other ties (after his parents die and he's kicked out of their home), Ballard descends literally- and figuratively- into that of a cave dweller as he falls deeper into crime and just all-around degradation.Okay, I must say, with my wicked, dark sense of humor, I actually found this quite amusing at times. Scott Haze, who plays Lester, would just get these looks on his face, and speak in that hillbilly gibberish (sometimes I think purposely so others wouldn't be able to understand his madness-?? LOL) and I would just crack up! Overall, I really enjoyed this piece. It will be interesting to see where Franco's directing career will be at ten years from now..??

deacon_blues-3 Not having read the novel (but I will soon), I do not have the burden of comparison that some other reviewers have. I found the film very interesting, in that it portrayed a human being descending into the lowest level of degradation. But his degradation is fueled by the same needs that all children of God have. His disgrace comes in the way he seeks to meet those needs, not in the actual needs themselves. Everyone in the film thinks that Lester is stupid, but he is not, as the ending shows. He is cunning and skilled beyond many of his community. Neither is he summarily shunned by everyone in his surrounding community; many seem to be willing to give him the benefit of the doubt when it comes to daily interactions (for example, the boutique clerk, and the carnival). But his evil attitudes and paranoid suspicions involving social interactions drag him deeper and deeper in to inhumanity. I had to admire the acting of Scott Haze. Yes, I could have done without the defecation scene near the start, but all the other disgraceful scenes seemed essential to the unfolding of the character. Strangely fascinating.

SnoopyStyle Lester Ballard (Scott Haze) is a disturbed man living in the rural mountains of Tennessee in the 60s. His father killed himself and his mother ran away. His father's property is auctioned off and he becomes a recluse. He gets in trouble with Sheriff Fate (Tim Blake Nelson) after he struggled with a drunken woman. He steals and is a general nuisance. He runs across a young couple dead in their car. He has sex with the dead girl and steals her body away.I think this is the only movie where a character is actually taking a dump. I've got to say that it's disturbing and gross. It sets the tone for the whole movie. Scott Haze is terrific in his performance. The main problem is that the movie is uninvolving. After awhile, Lester's insanity feels repetitive and lifeless. His isolation infiltrates into the movie. This movie needs more time for Sheriff Fate. I also wonder why the sheriff can't put him away longer and how bad the dead body smells. These are the little things that nag at me when the movie stops being compelling. James Franco's directions are workable but they need to energize the plot more.

Andrew Wakely As a big fan of McCarthy's "The Road," (both the book AND the film), I was excited to see the trailer for "Child OF God," a film based on another of his works, which, admittedly, I had not read. I put the film on and proceeded to be disappointed. A severely disturbed hillbilly with a traumatic past is ejected from his home, after which he wanders around Tennessee, clutching his beloved rifle (and assorted stuffed toys). Mumbling incoherently, talking incoherently and shrieking incoherently, he goes from squatting in isolated cabins and raping corpses, to living in caves and killing a young woman so as to continue raping corpses. Finally, he is caught during a botched murder attempt, but is able to escape when a lynch mob sneaks him out of custody in an attempt to take the law into their own hands. Scott Haze's portrayal of the deranged Lester Ballard is truly excellent. However, the bleak and depressing tone of the film was overshadowed by a pervasive sense of boredom, leaving me practically without feeling. By the 80-minute mark, I was just waiting for the movie to end. Which it did: at 96 minutes it just sort of peters out and comes to a dead end.