There are movies out there that are great visually, and have much substance to them. Then thereare films that are fine in one area, but lack in the other. The latest work from actor DanielDay-Lewis, “The Ballad of Jack and Rose” appears to be in the first category.
This is not due to this flick being short in the thematic department–at least there seems to be various plot-lines floating around—but rather it’s difficult for the viewer to be drawn in. The story basically deals with a commune, a holdover from the early 1970s, and how things have not turned out for the better there. Then there is the matter of a character preparing to leave his daughter in good hands before meeting his maker, some visitors to the commune, encroaching development on the island where the story takes place, and people who seem to drop in and out.“The Ballad of…”, which was written and directed by Lewis’ wife Rebecca Miller (daughter of the late playwright Arthur Miller, she also helmed “Personal Velocity) takes place on what is an “Island off the East Coast of the United States” in 1986. It’s there that Jack Slavin (Lewis) lives with his now teenage daughter Rose (Camilla Belle). The two of them live in a house that appears literally built into the earth, complete with a grass covered dirt roof, and spend their time planting, clearing the beach of seaweed, and tending to their farm which includes some chickens, and a lot of wild flowers. Though this seems like an idyllic life, things are not well if only because, well, Jack is dying due to a bad heart (can’t imagine that his smoking helps), and is concerned about what will befall his daughter once this happens. It doesn’t make matters easier that Rose plans to kill herself the moment her father goes (!), or so she tells him. In the meantime, while thing are going generally ok between father and daughter, Rose is prone at times to be upset with him and in those cases retreats to her treehouse.Jack has issues of his own, particularly with the model homes that are being built nearby, on what he believes to be protected wetlands. He spends part of his time making less than cordial visits to these places, which are mostly still under construction, and vandalizes them in an attempt to stop what he feels is destroying the local ecosystem. In addition to this extreme activism, and the time spent with his daughter, he also leaves the island periodically to purse a relationship with Kathleen (Catherine Keener), a woman who seems to have some issues of her own.After meeting with Kathleen for a tryst, Jack asks her to come and live with him on the island, to just leave her job and bring her two teenage sons, Rodney (Ryan McDonald) and Thadius (Paul Dano) with her to the commune. This situation results from Jack’s desire to have someone in his daughter’s life after he’s gone, and also to provide companionship for himself in what little time remains. This arrangement also does appeal to Kathleen–it’s better than where she’s currently living (a family member’s cellar)–and so she and her offspring move in with the Slavins.Early on, Rose shows signs of resentment towards her new housemates, and she is envious of how he spends less time with her now, and more time with Kathleen. Having been pulled out of school at age 11, and spending most of the last few years with just her father, she reacts strangely–well, really strange, as she was a little peculiar to begin with, being out on this commune, just her and her father and all, and with no TV (!!). Of course, the new company has its own peculiarities—Rodney has aspirations of being a hairdresser, while Thadius, who talks of spending his time looking for a job, spends his time on sex and trapping poisonous snakes.[pagebreak]These details are not lost on Rose. After propositioning Rodney for sex, and catching him off guard by doing so, he chooses instead to cut her hair real, real short. She suddenly seems like a different person, wearing more revealing clothing (much to dad’s disapproval), putting onKathleen’s make-up, and showing interest in kissing, and well…she apparently is not so sheltered anymore. As if a budding daughter weren’t enough, Jack must deal with Kathleen and her prying questions–including one about his wife, her two sons (who are roughly the same age as Rose—i.e. trouble) and a developer named Marty Rance (Beau Bridges) who plans to buy theSlavins’ land and build on it.While all of the above make for a fascinating story–well, several fascinating stories really–the movie is a little..off. It may be the way characters just pop in and out–such as flower vendor Gray (Jason Lee, in what seems like a mellow role for him) and the bizarre, and bizarrely named, Red Berry (Jena Malone, who looks less like Jena Malone here…maybe Brittany Murphy-esque than Jena Malone-esque). It’s also that the film doesn’t give much of a back story, at least not a sufficient one to understand the individuals involved and to care what happens to them: these include matters such as Rose suddenly becoming curious of the ways of the world, or Jack–who is anti-change– asking Kathleen to come and live in the commune, or even Katleen deciding to upand move in the first place (not that she is leaving a great life behind).Getting back to the original thought, it’s true that “The Ballad of…” has good visuals, whether it’s viewing the local scenery (much of the film was actually shot on Prince Edward Island in Canada), seeing close-ups of plants and animals (including a bee and a fuzzy caterpillar, or seeing the stop-motion photography used to depict the storms that take place (there are a few…that is one stormy island the leads live on). There are moments, such as inside the house, that look as if a hand-held camera was used, which gives a feel of being in the middle of things, albeit it takes some getting used to.The acting, meanwhile, is okay but nothing too special, save for Belle as ‘Rose’, who has her moments, mainly through her reaction to Kathleen’s arrival, and subsequent behavior. Lewis does a fair job, though it would have more fascinating to know his feelings about the ‘experiment’–which is what the commune was, a lifestyle experiment in which dozens wereinvolved–and how it seems to have failed.On that note, it might have preferable for the film to take that route, of how the ideals of the 60s and early 70s faired, and how the 80s (the decade when this flick takes place) seemed to undo many of them. The movie does touch on this at times, but gets sidetracked onto dealing with Kathleen and her two sons, and their respective problems (getting a job as a hairdresser, eating the wrong foods, Kathleen’s previous husbands, etc.).“The Ballad of Jack and Rose” has its moments, but it is ultimately confusing, and it becomes hard to follow the protagonists and understand their motivations, although one can figure out how it will end (partially), and thus things in the film don’t make too much sense. This is too bad, as again there are some good visuals (though Malone pseudo-punk look is a little much). The movie could have been a lot more, about the 60s vs. the 80s for instance, or learning more about Rose’s mother/Jack’s wife, but ultimately it fails to sufficiently capture one’s interest.Grade: C+EM ReviewBy Andrew Haas4/01/05