THE NEW YORK TIMES
Manohla Dargis
“There isn’t much talk and not a drop of cynicism in “Ballast,†Lance Hammer’s austerely elegant, emotionally unadorned riff on life and death in the Mississippi Delta. Shot with a sure hand and a cast of unknowns, the film doesn’t so much tell a story as develop a tone and root around a place that, despite the intimate camerawork, remains shrouded in ambiguity.… It’s a serious achievement and a welcome sign of a newly invigorated American independent cinema.”
Read Full ReviewRead Full Review at THE NEW YORK TIMESCHICAGO SUN-TIMES
Roger Ebert
CHICAGO TRIBUNE
Michael Phillips
THE BOSTON GLOBE
Wesley Morris
LOS ANGELES TIMES
Kenneth Turan
“"Ballast" has the heft and substance its name implies. A double prize winner at Sundance, this austere, rigorous film has a sense of place, a feeling for reality so compelling it makes us feel like we're living it, not just watching on a screen. ”
Read Full ReviewRead Full Review at LOS ANGELES TIMESTHE VILLAGE VOICE
Elena Oumano
ART FORUM
Amy Taubin
“Ballast is a highly sophisticated film (Hammer cites the works of the Dardenne brothers and Robert Bresson as models), but moment by moment it is such an organic expression of the Delta and the people who live there that it feels made up on the spot.”
Read Full ReviewRead Full Review at ART FORUMVARIETY
Robert Koehler
THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
Kirk Honeycutt
SCREEN INTERNATIONAL
David D'Arcy
ROLLING STONE
Peter Travers
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY
Owen Gleiberman
“It takes daring, as well as skill, to make a drama that allows the audience to get its bearings only gradually, and Ballast, written and directed by Lance Hammer, has the audacity and talent to render that process an arresting one. The film doesn't just bring three troubled, wayward characters in the Mississippi Delta to rich, gnarled, vivid life. It presents them as enigmas who come into focus moment by moment, scene by scene, and that journey of discovery forces us to cast away the clichés of race, poverty, and existence in the Deep South.”
Read Full ReviewRead Full Review at ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLYLA WEEKLY
Scott Foundas
THE BOSTON GLOBE
Dennis Fisher
THE NEW YORK TIMES
Dennis Lim
THE VILLAGE VOICE (01/21/08)
Scott Foundas
“A wholly original meditation on lost souls trying to gain a foothold in a bleak and treacherous landscape. It is, I think, the single most impressive feature to premiere at Sundance since "Half Nelson" in 2006, and the high-water mark by which all others in and out of this year's competition should be judged.”
Read Full ReviewRead Full Review at THE VILLAGE VOICE (01/21/08)THE NEW REPUBLIC
Stanley Kaufman
INDIEWIRE
Anthony Kaufman
TIME OUT NY
David Fear
REVERSE SHOT
Michael Koresky
“It’s this promise—of living without emotional paralysis despite financial struggle and loss—that makes Ballast such a wondrous, moving experience, and which Hammer details in a final shot so subtle and revelatory and yet so specifically attuned to these people’s daily experiences that it nearly doesn’t feel like a revelation at all.”
Read Full ReviewRead Full Review at REVERSE SHOTTHE SEATTLE TIMES
Jeff Shannon
SEATLLE POST-INTELLIGENCER
Sean Axmaker
“Touching and human, a small story of necessity and responsibility rousing defeated people that slowly unfolds and fills the film with the authenticity of its lives...Filled with the kinds of textures, and the kinds of lives, you don't get with the polish of Hollywood.”
Read Full ReviewRead Full Review at SEATLLE POST-INTELLIGENCERTHE STRANGER
Charles Mudede
“The lack of a soundtrack (hiphop, blues, jazz) reveals the source of black music—the black voice itself. Often it’s hard to understand what is being said but the music of black English is heard and felt. Ballast is a powerful film.”
Read Full ReviewRead Full Review at THE STRANGERTHE NEW YORK SUN
S. James Snyder
THE NEW YORK SUN
Steve Dollar
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Joe Morgenstern
“The story moves at the ambling pace of uncertain lives, a pace representing the filmmaker's trust that his audience will stay involved as several important events unfold. His trust is justified by his talent. This ostensibly simple film evokes whole lives in 96 minutes...”
Read Full ReviewRead Full Review at THE WALL STREET JOURNALNEWCITY CHICAGO
Ray Pride
PHILADELPHIA CITY PAPER
Sam Adams
“Ballast is a quiet, delicately beautiful work, an assured debut that handily skirts the pitfalls of neo-neorealism. The movie's characters aren't specimens, or representatives, but distinct and complicated individuals whose shortcomings are outweighed by their generosity of spirit. They give back to each other, and Ballast gives back to us.”
Read Full ReviewRead Full Review at PHILADELPHIA CITY PAPERBALTIMORE CITY PAPER
Violet Glaze
MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL
Duane Dudek
FILM THREAT
Jeremy C. Fox
AIN'T IT COOL NEWS
Capone
SPOUT
Karina Longworth
THE NEW YORK TIMES (09/07/08)
Manohla Dargis
HONOLULU WEEKLY
Ragnar Carlson
“The film evokes the best of Terrence Malick from the first shot (of a young boy charging into a flock of geese), and the resemblance holds throughout— the effect is not so much homage as the sense that Hammer is Malick’s heir. Every word of dialogue feels freighted with nuance here, every footfall and distant barking dog loaded with uncanny power.”
Read Full ReviewRead Full Review at HONOLULU WEEKLY