Ballast
Available Now
On DVD
- Synopsis
- The static living arrangement between three lonely souls living in a rural Mississippi Delta township is suddenly shaken up due to a tragic suicide in this intimate family drama from first-time writer/director Lance Hammer....
- Read Full Synopsis
- Director(s)
- Lance Hammer
- Distributor(s)
- IFC
- MPAA Rating
- Not Rated
- Runtime
- 96 min.
Critic Reviews
Chicago Sun-Times | Roger EbertAdd Critic to Favorites
Ballast inexorably grows and deepens and gathers power and absorbs us. I always say I hardly ever cry at sad films, but I sometimes do, just a little, at films about good people.Read the full review
Boston Globe | Wesley MorrisAdd Critic to Favorites
This is the most significant feature about poor black life since Charles Burnett's 1977 "Killer of Sheep."Read the full review
Variety | Robert KoehlerAdd Critic to Favorites
A rock-ribbed sense of committed, personal cinema and a core belief in people being able to pull themselves out of misery supports Ballast, an extraordinary debut by editor-writer-director Lance Hammer.Read the full review
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Headlines
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cinemadaily | Now On DVD
11/11/09 One of the most critically acclaimed films of 2008, Lance Hammer's "Ballast" comes to DVD this week, courtesy of Kino. "Superficially, Ballast is a distinctly American work, but Hammer infuses it with a European sensibility that separates it from the rest of the pack," writes Michael Tully at Hammer to Nail in his survey of the week's DVD releases. | indieWIRE -
Mississippi Blues and Embarcadero Clues
11/10/09 There's little point in attempting to figure why Lance Hammer's "Ballast," the best American film of 2008, was whisked in and out of so few theaters so quickly, in contrast even to minimalist imports and special-interest video docs in the same span, and despite universal critical hosannas. | Independent Film Channel (IFC) -
Mississippi Damned
06/23/09 For the black men, women and children in "Mississippi Damned," Tina Mabry's autobiographical saga of intertwined destinies, that southern state epitomizes a domestic hell of borderline poverty and endemic abuse. | Variety -
The Unseen Destruction of Nations
05/05/09 Kelly Reichardt's "Wendy & Lucy" may be -- in competition only with Lance Hammer's "Ballast" -- the best film of 2008, and both movies have been so underseen by the public that they could be said to have not been released at all. | Independent Film Channel (IFC) -
Film Independent Announces Directors Close-Up
01/23/09 Film Independent, announced the lineup for the ninth annual Directors Close-Up: Conversations on the Art of Filmmaking, formerly known as the Director Series. | indieWIRE -
Not Picked Up in Park City? Filmmakers Look Forward to DIY Release Options
01/12/09 Joe the Filmmaker just found out he's going to Sundance with his debut film. | indieWIRE