Review by claudio_carvalho

In the 50's, the drifter Clay Hewitt (Vince Vaughn) arrives in a small town in the countryside of Kansas and befriends the locals Kitty (Ashley Judd), Earl (Paul Rudd) and his girlfriend Patsy (Jessica Capshaw) after punching their friend Joel Carter (Daniel Meyer) in a bar. Clay asks for a job to raise money to go to California, and Earl drives him to the ranch of the widow Delilah Ashford Potts (Kate Capshaw) to work with him in the slaughterhouse. Mrs. Potts is an alcoholic and promiscuous woman and hires Clay and let him stay in the barn. When Clay meets her son Joseph "Flyboy" Potts (Jeremy Davies), he learns that he has just returned from a mental institution after eight years and he does not speak a word to anybody. Further, his only friend is a bull called Jim that belonged to his father. Clay falls in love with Kitty and gets close to Flyboy that becomes his friend and slowly changes his behavior. When Clays decides to leave the town, he discloses a dark secret to Kitty. Meanwhile Flyboy's change of attitude unleashes a series of evil events and revelations from Mrs. Potts.

"The Locust" is one of the most powerful dramas shown in the American cinema industry, with a depressive and heartbreaking story of family revelations. This film is almost perfect, with wonderful direction, performances, cinematography, art direction and music score. Further, it is dramatic but never corny. It is also impressive how the distributors have neglected this film that was only released on VHS in Brazil. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Segredos Imperdoáveis" ("Unforgivable Secrets")