Ballad Of Jack And Rose (2005)

Average rating

(58%)

Starring:	Daniel Day-Lewis \| Catherine Keener \| Camilla Belle \| Paul Dano \| Jena Malone \| Beau Bridges \| Jason Lee \| Susanna Thompson \| Ryan McDonald
Director:	Rebecca Miller
Studio:	ENTERTAINMENT IN VIDEO
Run time:	112 mins
Genres:	Drama
Languages:	English
Released:	August 07, 2006
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Writer-director Rebecca Miller's third film (following ANGELA and PERSONAL VELOCITY) is a powerful, poignant drama about a father and daughter living on their own on the outskirts of nowhere, just as developers are starting to move in. Daniel Day-Lewis stars as Jack Slavin, a 1960s holdover who is a man of the earth, working the land and defending his territory while eschewing such modernities as television. Jack is devoted to his daughter, Rose (Camilla Belle), a 16-year-old girl who is equally as devoted to him. But Jack is sick, so he asks his girlfriend, Kathleen (Catherine Keener), along with her two sons, Rodney (Ryan McDonald) and Thaddius (Paul Dano), to come from the mainland and move in with them, thinking they can be Rose's family. But Rose begins to act out in dangerous ways, threatening to severely damage the already fragile relationships that are developing...

Highest rated reviews

6 out of 6 people found the following review helpful:

*** May contain spoilers ***

creepy!

KATIE from Belfast, N.Ireland, 11th May, 2007

Thinking this was going to be a heart felt, poinient tale of family love, betrayal and belonging, I was dissapointed. I found the main character, Jack's acting really creepy. His relationship with his daughter Rose, is supposed to be intense fatherly love but their father daughter relationship is so badly acted that it was unbelievable. The result is a creepy old paedophile and a flirty teenager - really uncomfortable. The two 'step sons' put in excellent performances which nearly save the day, but with the two main characters being so off the boil, it is beyond saving All too plastic an approach to what could have been a simple but beautiful story. In their attempts to make the whole thing romantic, picturesque and pretty, even the location and settings were OTT and unbelievable. Another badly put together American schmultsy film. Don't bother!

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3 out of 3 people found the following review helpful:

Mixed feelings.

A Customer from Kent. UK., 27th February, 2007

A complex story exploring the emotional relationship between father and daughter isolated from the 'rat race'. Day Lewis plays Jack, a father with good intentions turned bad in his attempt to protect his daughter from the corrupt outside world, they live self sufficiantly on a now deserted ex commune, ironically funded by Lewis's inheritance. However this supposed idyllic lifestyle has resulted in creating a naive, inquisitive sociopath in his daughter who demonically resents the intrusion of Jack's previously unknown girlfriend to the island with her two adolescant sons resulting in psychotic chaos and jealousy. Jack has chronic heart failure and was intending to create a new family to look after daughter Rose when he is gone. The plan backfires catastrophically. I found certain sequences frustratingly devoid of appropriate human dialogue and an in- credible script at times using a minimalist approach which gave a questionable reality to certain scenes. It examines closely the stiflingly unhealthy father/daughter relationship which is borderline incestuous and unravels the slow realisation that Jack has suppressed his daughter from normal develpoment and social interaction to a damaging degree...is it too late for her to survive without him? Great musical score from Bob Dylan, Nina Simone, John Mayall, etc.

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Customer Review

A Customer from UK, 23rd June, 2008

yes the acting is superb but this film is just weird. Maybe that's because I don't "get it" - much like I don't get a chair in a huge room being called "art", or anything that Tracey Emin does. "Weird" can be interesting if it's thought provoking but I found many of the basic premises of this film fundamentally flawed and as a result I just questioned it rather than being interested by it. For example does Jack really think that his very deep and probably deeply disturbed daughter Rose is going to get along with her new "housemates"? It's obvious that she's not although it provides some interesting viewing.There are some nice relationships in the story but these relationships just give us breathing space given the individual characters are so strange.

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