Review of Ballast (2008) by Dan W — 13 Nov 2008

[color=black][font=Tahoma]After his twin brother Darius commits suicide by overdosing on pills, Lawrence is so torn up about it that he shoots himself in the chest. His physical wounds heal pretty quickly, but mentally he remains a zombie. He abandons the convenience store that he and his brother co-owned and spends his days just sitting on the couch staring at the wall.[/font][/color].

[color=black][font=Tahoma]Meanwhile, Darius' 12-year-old son James starts using crack and ends up owing his dealer a lot of money. He shows up at Lawrence's house one day brandishing a gun and demanding cash. Lawrence and James barely know each other; James' mother Marlee had a restraining order against Darius, so theirs isn?t exactly a tight-knit family. But as robbery targets go, suicidal zombies are about as cooperative as they come, so James easily gets what he's after and is on his way.[/font][/color].

[color=black][font=Tahoma]It's not long before Marlee ? herself a former addict -- catches on to what her little boy is up to when he's not home eating Trix and watching cartoons. After a car full of thugs force them off the road and beat the crap out of James, Marlee hastily packs their things and moves them out of their own house and into Darius' house, which is on the same lot as Lawrence's house.[/font][/color].

[color=black][font=Tahoma]The rest of the film is all about the three main characters trying to come to terms with each other. Lawrence channels his grief into tentative attempts at avuncular bonding with James. James starts viewing Lawrence as his new absentee father figure. And Marlee vents the anger she felt towards Darius by subjecting Lawrence to a series of shrew-like tantrums.[/font][/color].

[color=black][font=Tahoma]From the looks of things, [/font][/color][color=black][font=Tahoma][i]Ballast[/i][/font][/color][color=black][font=Tahoma] was made after consulting the book [/font][/color][color=black][font=Tahoma]"Indie Films for Dummies". Hand-held camera...check. Non-professional actors...check. Improvised dialogue...check. Music-free soundtrack...check.[/font][/color].

[color=black][font=Tahoma]Some of the scenes work and some are just god-awful. The characters don?t have a lot to say and much of what they do say is often indecipherable. Maybe it makes for a more authentic film to have the crack house habitués speaking in an authentic crack house dialect, but I?d be willing to forgo a little authenticity in return for being able to understand what the heck is being said.[/font][/color].

[i][color=black][font=Tahoma]Ballast[/font][/color][/i][color=black][font=Tahoma] isn?t so much about content as it is about mood. It?s set in the middle of what looks to be a giant swamp, with nothing but grayish sticks growing out of the water as far as the eye can see. James zips on his motorbike down long straight roads that slice through the desolate landscape. He trudges on foot through waterlogged stick-strewn fields. I?ve since learned that the film was made in the Mississippi Delta. I can only hope for the inhabitants? sake that it looks a little less dreary there in the summer.[/font][/color].

[i][color=black][font=Tahoma]Ballast[/font][/color][/i][color=black][font=Tahoma] is apparently one of those film fest darlings that has been picking up awards everywhere it goes. Usually I like low-key films, but this one just didn?t do it for me. I?m ok with no plot and no action, but I do like my dialogue.[/font][/color].

[color=black][font=Tahoma]That said, this movie really isn?t as dreadful as it sounds. Somehow, despite the fact that the film is more about cinematography than it is about telling a story, I still ended up caring about the characters. I found myself pulling for them to get their sorry lives back together and clinging to every little glimmer of hope that things might be turning around for them.[/font][/color].

[color=black][font=Tahoma]My growing sympathies were rewarded with one of the most abrupt movie endings I?ve ever seen. It?s as if they ran out of film in the middle of a scene, and rather than buying another reel, they decided to just call it a day. In retrospect, it probably wasn?t a bad decision.[/font][/color].