Ballast (2008)

Ballast: Directed by Lance Hammer. With Micheal J. Smith Sr., JimMyron Ross, Tarra Riggs, Johnny McPhail. A drama set in the Mississippi delta, where one man’s suicide affects three people’s lives.

“I first became interested in Ballast when I heard about its setting: itu0026#39;s very rare to find a film set in the Mississippi Delta. Itu0026#39;s also quite rare to find a serious drama with mostly black characters. I was afraid that this would either be a sappy melodrama or an attempt to make some u0026quot;profoundu0026quot; point about how racism exists and is, like, bad and stuff. Thus I was quite pleased to find that this film manages to have a uniquely Southern setting without resorting to clichés or caricatures and that making some grand social statement is evidently the last thing on the mind of first time director Lance Hammer. Instead, we have a deliberately paced character study with a nicely handled mise en scene.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe film opens with the attempted suicide of Lawrence, a shopkeeper distressed over the (extremely) recent death of his twin brother/partner/only friend. Lawrenceu0026#39;s recovery is complicated by his brotheru0026#39;s will which indicates that the recently deceased manu0026#39;s ex-wife and teenage son are entitled to his share of the store and part of the property the brothers had co-habitated. Things start off tense due to the boyu0026#39;s involvement with some disreputable older boys that he owes money and stay that way due to Lawrenceu0026#39;s troubled partnership with the boyu0026#39;s mother. This is a quiet, contemplative film for the most part and it offers no easy resolutions. Instead, it manages to realistically capture some unique characters in a woefully ignored section of American society.”