Eye of God
Tim Blake Nelson · 1997 · 84 minutes
Nov. 14 · Regal 1 · 4:00 p.m.
Two tragedies unfold in a small Oklahoma town. One follows Ainsley DuPree as she meets and marries her prison pen pal Jack. The other tracks a sheriff’s investigation of a bloodied, mute teenager found wandering in shock late at night.
Programmer’s Note
In Kingfisher, Oklahoma, a lonely oil town well past its boom, Ainsley (Martha Plimpton) hungers for adventure and strikes up a long-distance relationship with Jack (Kevin Anderson), a prisoner with a violent past. Jack found Jesus behind bars, he assures her when they finally meet, and his conversion seems earnest at first. But with time his faith becomes a justification to control Ainsley: no more waitressing, no hanging around the truck stop, no leaving the house except for church on Sunday. Meanwhile, the local sheriff (Hal Holbrook) finds troubled teenager Tommy (Nick Stahl) wandering a country road, unable to speak and covered in someone else’s blood.
The premise of Eye of God would’ve made one hell of a B picture in the 1940s: a rough-hewn potboiler starring Robert Mitchum and Gene Tierney, maybe. But in the hands of Tim Blake Nelson, the material is more Flannery O’Connor and Tennessee Williams than Fritz Lang or Billy Wilder. In describing her own fiction, O’Connor said, “to the hard of hearing you shout, and for the almost-blind you draw large and startling figures,” an apt description of Ainsely, Jack, and Tommy—fallen creatures in a fallen world, all of them. Nelson jumbles the chronology of their stories, scattering plot points until the pieces finally fall into place in the harrowing climax. Roger Ebert saw a clue to Nelson’s approach in the film’s title: “The eyes of God exist outside time and don’t need to see stories in chronological order, because they know the beginning, middle, and end before the story begins or the characters even exist.”
Adapted from Nelson’s play, Eye of God is a remarkable debut feature and an overlooked gem of American regional cinema. When asked about his approach to writing and directing, Nelson prides himself on being attentive always to the actors, and that’s apparent here, most memorably in the exquisite performance by Martha Plimpton, best known at the time for playing quirky supporting roles in The Goonies and Parenthood. Every single line reading Plimpton delivers in Eye of God is fascinating, tender, and totally without guile. You’ll never forget her Ainsley.
Special thanks to Tim Blake Nelson for allowing us to host this rare theatrical screening.
Recipient of the 2026 James Agee Prize, Tim Blake Nelson is a celebrated filmmaker, writer and actor. As a writer-director, The Life and Deaths of Wilson Shedd marks his sixth film, joining The Grey Zone, Eye of God, Leaves of Grass, Anesthesia, and O. His filmography of over 100 on-screen credits includes The Coens’ O Brother, Where Art Thou? and The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, Spielberg’s Lincoln and Minority Report, del Toro’s Nightmare Alley, Malick’s The Thin Red Line, and HBO’s Watchmen. He next stars in the feature The Leader and HBO’s Task season two. He is the author of the novels City of Blows and Superhero.