Ballast

Winner of cinematography and director awards at the Sundance Film Festival and nominated for the Jury Prize at Sundance and Berlin, Lance Hammer's Ballast is an American original. Performed by non-professional actors and shot with a hand-held camera, the film looks at the lives of three distraught people in the Mississippi Delta, conveying with passion their ability to discover their own humanity and transcend the circumstances of their life. Using only the ambient sounds of nature, and portraying events in an elliptical manner that forces us to fill in the blanks, Ballast is reminiscent of the minimalist masterpieces of the Dardennes' and Charles Burnett, but has a unique rhythm all its own.

Shot on 35 mm along the Mississippi Delta, it is a film that quickly establishes mood and suspense and creates an emotional range that travels from anger and sadness to hope and joy. As the film opens, 12 year-old James (JimMyron Ross) chases a flock of birds in an open cotton field during the winter. The camera then shifts to a distraught man, Lawrence (Michael J. Smith, Sr.) sitting alone in his living room in the house next to his sister-in-law, Marlee (Tarra Riggs). The man is paralyzed with depression and unable to communicate due to the death of his brother Darius who, as discovered by a neighbor John (Johnny McPhail), has died in his bed of a self-inflicted overdose. Sullenly, Lawrence responds to the tragedy by going outside and shooting himself in the lungs. Rushed to the hospital, he is badly wounded but recovers after several weeks in the hospital.

In trouble with dope dealers, young James keeps his working mother from discovering that he owes $100 for crack cocaine, but it is revealed when James' TV is taken by the gang and both mother and son are assaulted in their cars. James, who owns a scooter, rides to Lawrence's place and demands his father's money at gunpoint. Things seem to hit rock bottom when Marlee is fired from her job cleaning toilets and Lawrence, still in shock, is unable to reopen his small food market. With nowhere to go but up, the three begin a long process of discovery of their indelible connection to life and to each other.

Unfolding like a documentary, Ballast conveys a sense of immediacy and a lyricism that gathers momentum as the film progresses. Accents are difficult to fathom (the film wisely provides English subtitles), yet there is a naturalism and authenticity here that keeps us engaged throughout. While none of the actors have ever acted before, you would not know it from the power of their performances, especially from Tarra Riggs and young Ross. It is a film, however, that definitely requires patience from the viewer. There are no markers to tell us what we are supposed to feel about the people we see on the screen, yet we remain tuned in to their struggles as if they were our own and in many respects they are. As they discover that who they are is larger than their circumstances, we discover a similar truth in our own life.

I first became interested in Ballast when I heard about its setting: it's very rare to find a film set in the Mississippi Delta. It's also quite rare to find a serious drama with mostly black characters. I was afraid that this would either be a sappy melodrama or an attempt to make some "profound" point about how racism exists and is, like, bad and stuff. Thus I was quite pleased to find that this film manages to have a uniquely Southern setting without resorting to clichés or caricatures and that making some grand social statement is evidently the last thing on the mind of first time director Lance Hammer. Instead, we have a deliberately paced character study with a nicely handled mise en scene.

The film opens with the attempted suicide of Lawrence, a shopkeeper distressed over the (extremely) recent death of his twin brother/partner/only friend. Lawrence's recovery is complicated by his brother's will which indicates that the recently deceased man's ex-wife and teenage son are entitled to his share of the store and part of the property the brothers had co-habitated. Things start off tense due to the boy's involvement with some disreputable older boys that he owes money and stay that way due to Lawrence's troubled partnership with the boy's mother. This is a quiet, contemplative film for the most part and it offers no easy resolutions. Instead, it manages to realistically capture some unique characters in a woefully ignored section of American society.

If I want to spend a few hours out of my day to get to a cinema and spend my money to watch a film, any film, then I want it to be worthwhile. Believe me, Ballast I would have paid for twice, it's that good. And I'll be buying the DVD too.

During the Glasgow Film Festival this year, this (to us) obscure, indie film played at a multiplex and my husband - who actually met the director at the London Film Festival - urged me to see it. Why? Because I'm also a filmmaker, so I share with the director, Lance, the desire to eschew the commercial imperative when it comes to telling straight stories.

Lance, if you read this - I adored this film. It's everything - flaws and all - that I want to see on screen. The integrity of the cast, no matter where you found them, the screen craft - the photography, script, design, sound, edit, costume, makeup - or judicious lack of - all fell into place. It's what they say about making films - so many get made, but so seldom do the planets align to make a beautiful one. This to me is the bomb. I love it.

I wish you every success in your future projects.

May Miles Thomas, Elemental Films, UK

I took a while to trust this film, since it is one of many new indies to start very slowly, with much that is unexplained and not only minimal sound effects, but in fact even minimal ambient sound. There's a number of new films that start this way and never get anywhere after that. Here however there's a slow but inevitable build, and much of what's unexplained becomes intuitively clear as the film progresses. The uncle's first few encounters with his nephew are beautifully set up and played, with their undercurrents clear early on. The story at one point becomes a bit predictable, but nonetheless engaging. The characters are very rich without any surface effort or telegraphing. I'm iffy on the ending, and I don't know that I'd want to watch a number of films like this in a row. But it has definite authority, and shows immense promise.

Life is hard for a pimp. It is also hard for a poor mother (Tarra Riggs) to deal with after the suicide of her husband.

The twin/brother-in-law (Micheal J. Smith Sr.) is so depressed that he might just follow his brother, and her youngest (JimMyron Ross ) is heading in the wrong direction. They have a lot to deal with, and the film is about real people and how they deal with life and it's problems and setbacks.

The bleak cinematography really fits this film, as does the lack of a score. There is nothing to dance about, so why have music.

The inexperienced actors really shine, and writer/director Lance Hammer has much to be proud of in his first film.

Truly one of the best films of 2008.