Movie Description
In this indie drama set in the Mississippi Delta, a mother and her 12-year-old son try desperately to escape the poverty that rules the region. But their efforts are confounded when the boy's attempts to win the favor of his fellow teens lead him into a dangerous situation with a lonely and broken man.
Winner of numerous prizes at prestigious film festivals all around the world, including Sundance, San Francisco, and Buenos Aires, BALLAST is a stunning, emotionally powerful feature-film debut from Lance Hammer, who wrote, directed, and edited the film and served as one of the producers. After his brother commits suicide, Lawrence (Michael J. Smith Sr.) stops going to work at his convenience store, instead just sitting alone at home, staring straight ahead at the television, like a zombie. When his 12-year-old nephew, James (JimMyron Ross), pulls a gun on him and demands money, Lawrence barely reacts, not caring about anything. James needs the money to pay off the local drug dealers for the crack he has been smoking. Meanwhile, James's mother, Marlee (Tarra Riggs), is scrubbing toilets to earn whatever she can to afford food and clothing for her son. But when Marla finds out that her son's life is in danger, they run away to stay with Lawrence, triggering long-held memories and problems that slowly boil to the surface. BALLAST is set in the Mississippi Delta, shot on location with nonprofessional actors who live in the region. Although there was a script, the dialogue was mostly improvised, and Hammer uses only natural sound and light, heightening the reality of the hard lives these people lead. Director of photography Lol Crawley often creates beautiful exterior landscapes that offer hope for the main characters, juxtaposing them with interior shots that find them contained in small places, trapped in their situation. BALLAST is a bold, brutal work, filled with pain and honesty, violence and warmth, offering no easy answers.
| Credits | | Cast: | Dr. Sanjib Shrestha, Jimez Alexander, Johnny McPhail |
Editorial Reviews
4 stars out of 5 -- "Hammer's script is spare and pertinent, without a wasted syllable, giving his characters believable voices against the bleak and gray canvas of the Delta farmlands, stunningly photographed by Lol Crawley."
Box Office - Richard Mowe (08/01/2008)
"[An] austerely elegant, emotionally unadorned riff on life and death in the Mississippi Delta....It's a serious achievement and a welcome sign of an newly invigorated American independent cinema."
New York Times - Manohla Dargis (10/01/2008)
"BALLAST has images of pristine spareness that keep leaping forward....As the movie comes into focus, you feel the lives of the characters echoing backward through time." -- Grade: A-
Entertainment Weekly - Owen Gleiberman (10/10/2008)
"In Lance Hammer's BALLAST, the director takes a page from the Terrence Malick playbook and constructs a poetic narrative out of bleak landscapes and majestic drama....The result is an exhilarating narrative."
Premiere - Eric Kohn (10/03/2008)
"BALLAST has the heft and substance its name implies....this austere, rigorous film has a sense of place, a feeling for reality so compelling it makes us feel like we're living it, not just watching on a screen."
Los Angeles Times - Kenneth Turan (11/07/2008)
"The film has a bedrock reality that could not be fabricated. It was filmed on locations in the Mississippi Delta, and uses actors who had never acted before, but who never step wrong. Few professional actors could convince us so deeply."
Chicago Sun-Times - Roger Ebert (11/05/2008)
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