Ballast

This debut feature by writer-director Lance Hammer is a genuine American independent film, produced on a micro-budget with nonprofessional actors and steeped in the culture and atmosphere of a small Mississippi Delta town. An intimate drama, Ballast tells the stories of three troubled and damaged souls—a suicidal man, a fiercely protective single mother, and a 12-year-old drifting into drugs and crime. Lawrence (Michael J. Smith Sr.) is not only depressed and grief-stricken following the death of his brother, but there's also considerable tension between him and his sister-in-law Marlee (Tarra Riggs), although both are determined to help Marlee's son James (JimMyron Ross). Ballast is a highly charged work, roiling with rage and regret, sadness and desperation; and Hammer refuses to spell anything out, instead simply throwing viewers into the middle of the characters' lives and allowing us to piece together their stories along the way. Winner of the Best Directing and Best Cinematography awards at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, the film is filled with nuances often missing from polished Hollywood productions, offering an understated story that is less about plot than how people heal and go on. Recommended. (S. Axmaker)