Ballast

Contemporary Drama

• Written and directed by Lance Hammer

Vast, flat, cold, muddy landscapes make a perfect metaphor for the lonely human heart in Lance Hammer’s directorial debut. I’ve been seeing a lot of low-key chamber dramas lately–all of them forgoing such comforting movie conventions as music, glamour, and a tripod. I like the trend.

The landscape in question is a sparsely-populated piece of the Mississippi Delta, and the lonely human hearts belong to three related people struggling with different types of loss. I say “three related people” because the word family seems a bit strong. It definitely describes the relationship between single mother Marlee (Tarra Riggs) and her 12-year-old son James (Jimmyron Ross), but James’ Uncle Lawrence (Micheal J. Smith Sr.) isn’t treated as family.

Lawrence has his own problems. His identical twin brother recently committed suicide, sending him deep into depression. After his own suicide attempt, he spends his days moping around his house, completely ignoring the store the two brothers inherited from their father.

Not that Marlee and James have it any better. The boy is at risk, taking drugs, in debt to dealers, and willing to wield a gun to support his habit. His mother loves him, but the stress of his problems, her low-paying, menial job, and dire poverty is too much for her.

I won’t go into any more story detail. Best to let you discover this yourself.

Hammer manages his cast and crew like a pro. In the tradition of Italian neo-realism, he avoids professional performers, casting locals without (with one minor exception) acting experience. Unlike most independent chamber dramas I’ve seen lately, Ballast was shot on actual 35mm film, and uses the wide screen to emphasize the emptiness of the landscape. But this is no Hollywood production; cinematographer Lol Crawley used only natural light, and handheld almost every shot.

Hollywood would have turned Ballast into an uplifting celebration of the human spirit (I can almost hear that line narrated in the trailer). It would have been a good movie, but Hammer made it into a great one.

Ballast screened at the 2008 San Francisco International Film Festival.