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Harvey Karten's Reviews

Review: Ballast

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#1 of 1 Posted 9/16/08 3:04 PM

From harveykarten Posts 798 Last Feb-7
To All [Msg # 23441.1 ]

BALLAST

Alluvial Film Co
Reviewed for CompuServe by Harvey Karten
Grade: B
Directed by: Lance Hammer
Written By: Lance Hammer
Cast: Michael J. Smith Sr., Jim Myron Ross, Tarra Riggs, Johnny McPhail
Screened at: Critics’ DVD, NYC, 9/17/08
Opens: October 1, 2008

There are essentially two kinds of movies just as there are two kinds of literature, theater, TV, and radio dramas. The first kind takes us away from our daily troubles into a world of fantasy, violence, noise—all the attributes that have made producers like Jerry Bruckheimer household words among cinephiles. The other kind is gutsier, the reverse of the escapist. That type relies on images from real life, real human beings who do not live like Batman or Tom Cruise but who (especially nowadays with the economy in the tank and Wall Street sucking up savings from Main Street) embody real life. This type is ultimately the more satisfying, giving us insights into the human condition—which many people would as soon skip given their diurnal battles at home and in the workplace.

“Ballast” is as close a model to this second type as you can get, more indie-ish than most non-mainstream films that show their face at Cannes, Toronto, and especially Sundance. This may relegate “Ballast” to the festival circuit, as a film with no musical soundtrack other than what may be playing on the radio of its subjects, and with an absence of professional actors, even a script that emerges from the characters themselves. The story is bleak, albeit with an optimistic conclusion, and while Lance Hammer in his first full length feature (his 29-minutes’ long “Issaquena” six years ago chronicles the decay of a Mississippi Delta family), he shows promise as a fellow who writes and directs about that part of Americana that he knows best. As a white director of a movie that stars African-Americans, he gives pause to those who believe that only black directors can successfully interpret the African-American experience.

A film that moves along quietly with only a couple of melodramatic flourishes, “Ballast” takes us into the Mississippi Delta, which is the modern area of land (the river delta) built up by alluvium deposited by the Mississippi River as it slows down and enters the Gulf of Mexico. Hence the name of the distributing company.

When a neighbor (Johnny McPhail) checks in on Lawrrence (Michael J.Smith, Jr.) , he finds the large black man in a state of depression over the death by a drug overdose of his twin brother, Darius. Attempting suicide, he shoots himself but recovers after a fairly long stay in a hospital. From time to time, Lawrence finds himself at the gunpoint of a 12-year-old nephew, James (JimMyron Ross), whose mother, Marlee (Tarra Riggs) believes that Lawrence is holding money that belongs to his brother. Obviously Marlee and Lawrence are seriously at odds: For his part, James is in trouble with some young drug dealers to whom he owes a hundred dollars. “Ballast” is the story of the threesome’s redemption.

“Ballast” brings to mind Charles Burnett’s “Killer of Sheep,” about a man’s dissatisfaction with his job in a slaughterhouse, a film that likewise takes us into the lives of poor people that most moviegoers may never meet. At times the dialogue is difficult to understand, given a low pitch and a heavy southern accent. The film’s pace and lack of melodrama take away some of the passion that even erudite film-goers seek. Still, for the natural acting, the example that writer-director Hammer sets for moviemaking without background music, its firm roots in American soil, and its authenticity, “Ballast” should be on the list of serious cinephiles.

Not Rated. 96 minutes. © 2008 by Harvey Karten Member: NY Film Critics Online

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Harvey Karten's Reviews

Review: Ballast

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