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| BALLAST |
Year: 2008
USA DVD: Kino Video
UK: Axiom Films
Cast: Michael J. Smith Sr., Jimmyron Ross, Tarra Riggs,
Johnny McPhail
Director: Lance Hammer
Country: USA
UK: 96 mins
UK Certificate: 15 contains strong language and one scene of
hard drug use
USA DVD Release Date: 10 November 2009
UK Release Date: 18 March 2011
Movie
reviews
Official website
Synopsis
A double prize winner at the Sundance Film Festival, and numerous
awards internationally, BALLAST is one of the most acclaimed
American independent films of recent years, a stunningly evocative
story of personal catastrophe and communal redemption.
In the cold winter light of the Mississippi Delta, three lonely
people stumble under the weight of a shared tragedy. Lawrence is
paralyzed with grief after the loss of his twin brother.
Twelve-year-old James drifts into the perilous orbit of local
teenagers, while his single mother, Marlee, is too exhausted from
her menial job to interpret the clues.
When sudden violence forces mother and son to leave their home in
the middle of the night, they desperately flee to Lawrence’s
property. Though this provides a safe harbor, it quickly rekindles
the fury of a bitter, longstanding conflict between them.
Writer-director Lance Hammer, together with British Cinematographer
Lol Crawley ('Better Things', 'Four Lions') and a gifted cast of
local, non-professional actors have created an unflinching,
profoundly humane story of lost souls forced by circumstance to seek
solace in the most unlikely of places.
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