Film Reviews

The Ballad of Jack and Rose

• Rating:
• Director: Rebecca Miller
• Starring: Camilla Belle
• Details: US, 112mins, 16s.

Twenty-six years after the '60s dream died, Jack (Day-Lewis) still resides on the abandoned hippy commune on an island off the east coast of America. There he lives with his fifteen-year-old daughter Rose (Belle) with whom he protects from the uncivilised materialistic world, but things are starting to happen that will disrupt their peaceful utopia. The housing developer Marty Rance (Beau Bridges) has started building houses on the edge of Jack's property but this encroaching is nothing compared to the sexual feelings Jack is starting to have for his daughter. To deflect these dark thoughts, Jack invites his girlfriend Kathleen (Keener) and her two sons - creepy Thaddius (Dano) and hairdresser Rodney (Ryan McDonald) - to live with him. This disruption makes Rose feel like Jack betrayed her and sets about creating chaos for the dysfunctional would-be family.
Despite all the above, there really isn't a lot going on in The Ballad Of Jack And Rose as writer and director Rebecca Miller (daughter of playwright Arthur) tries to encompass too much in one film and ends up never really addressing anything in this coming of age drama. It is obvious that everything in this film is symbolic of something that is going on Miller's mind, but what that maybe is never made clear and she never generates any impulse in the audience to find out. Placing a girl in a house - just as she is discovering her sexual identity - with her revered father, a horny boy and a woman whom she locks horns with, isn't the most original idea in the world and Miller tries various attempts to deflect this; the aforementioned, hinted-at, incest relationship with her father being one of many tries. Where it does stand out is the performances - Day-Lewis is as usual on top form as the chain-smoking dreamer but Camilla Belle more than holds her own with such a heavyweight, displaying a maturity not normally seen in a first-timer. With the moody Dano and especially McDonald (as a little comic relief) supporting, it is the subtle teenage performances that makes this film worth a look.

Review by Gavin Burke