Winterbottom film draws Sundance criticism

Michael Winterbottom has attracted criticism for his ultra-violent new film The Killer Inside Me at the Sundance Film Festival.

The controversial movie, labelled sadistic and gratuitous by its detractors, has left several critics predicting that it will never find a major distributor.

"It's ultra-real, excruciating to watch and, in some viewers' minds, inexcusable," wrote Jay A. Fernandez in The Hollywood Reporter. Meanwhile, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's film scribe Christopher Kelly admitted that he had "bolted after about an hour of this plodding, confusing and indeed sadistically violent movie".

However, Winterbottom defended The Killer Inside Me during a Q&A that followed the screening, insisting: "It's not only just about what a killer is like or how a killer behaves. It's also kind of a very dramatic version of how we all are."

An adaptation of Jim Thompson's novel, the story centres on Texan lawman Lou Ford as he transforms from a dull police officer into a ruthless killer.