Review of The Ballad of Jack and Rose (2005) by Private U — 02 Mar 2008

A would-be poetic, pretty pretentious film struggling for the stamp of tragedy, The Ballad of Jack and Rose is fairly original but also a bit of a mess. Single father Jack lives on an island on the East Cost of the US, where once there was a thriving commune, with his young daughter Rose (Rose's mother left when she was five).

Jack is dying from heart disease and is worried about leaving Rose alone, so invites his lover Kathleen and her sons to come live with them. Having lived alone with her father for most of her life, Rose is hostile to the idea and, because of her isolation, has problems communicating with anyone or expressing herself.

As she is also in the throws of her sexuality, her erratic behaviour often has bizarre consequences and her relationship with her father becomes more complex. The film comes alive when Kathleen and her two sons come to the island, and it's the trio of these three performances - Catherine Keener, Paul Dano, and especially, Ryan McDonald as Rodney - that most convince.

Their characters are well written and far more interesting than the oedipal complexities of Jack and Rose. Unfortunately, as the title suggests, the story concentrates on Jack and Rose, the opening half-hour establishing mood and foreshadowing like there's no tomorrow (and it felt that way in some places) and the final third delivering on this to little effect.

It's no fault of the actors who portray Jack and Rose (Daniel Day-Lewis and Camilla Belle are both typically good), but their story just never generated enough interest in me and I wished that the other characters weren't disposed of so uncaringly.

Worth watching for the performances alone; the film also has nice turns from Jason Lee and an almost unrecognisable Jena Malone.