The Ballad of Jack and Rose

Rose lives all alone on an island with her ailing hippie father. She worships him and has incestuous feelings for him. He is still clinging to the dream that the island will remain a paradise away from the rigours of the modern world. However property developers are threatening to move in. It is refreshing to see a story of incest told from a female's perspective. However Rose remains unknowable throughout most of the movie - but then, in essence, so do the other characters, with vague and baffling dialogue. In the second half there are sudden developments that seem too convenient to do away with characters who leave the movie spread far too thin across the remaining characters and remaining runtime. The ending also seemed a bit too neat and tidy for the challenging issues the movie has raised.

Even though I didn't entirely believe him in this role, he's such an outstanding actor that it held my attention. This film is clearly an 'indy' film, and has many wonderful qualities. The photography, some of the acting, the scenery. Unfortunately, the script I found cloying and weak and entirely unbelievable, it sidestepped the creepy incestuous moments that it evoked, and felt a little like watching a scene from a writers workshop at times. That being said- Daniel Day Lewis. He makes it all worthwhile. It's worth a rent, and I do look forward to whatever Ms. Miller does next, and I hope she has a long career. It's wonderful to find a woman filmmaker who is willing to explore difficult themes, I just wish this film had been better.

Admit it or not, the only strength of this film lies in the nature of Jack and Rose's relationship. Director and screenwriter Rebecca Miller used much of her creative potential to include life's every kind of misadventure to make that relationship undeniably unique. For a film about such a complex father-daughter relationship she needed some really strong actors. Now Mr. Day-Lewis is a phenomenon when it comes to acting... we all know that after "Gangs of New York" or "My Left Foot". But the real surprise came from Camilla Belle whose portrayal of dangerously innocent and emotionally frail Rose is a real inspiration to all the actresses of her generation. The short scene she shares with Jason Lee is perhaps the best example. Day-Lewis' Jack is outstanding in his own right. My favorite scene is when he breaks down to tears before Marty; or the night he spent with Rose in the house he crashed down later. We are eagerly expecting more works of this standard from these two gifted actors.