The Ballad of Jack and Rose

"Ballad of Jack and Rose" almost works as it examines the pitfalls of extreme idealism.

Writer/director Rebecca Miller sets up an archetypal situation, of an isolated Utopian who thinks he can create and control a perfect living environment with his daughter.

Daniel Day Lewis makes him too sympathetic, particularly his Pyrrhic politics, while his character's nemeses are too simplistic, even as he finally is defeated by mortality and human nature, or perhaps what some theologians would consider original sin. Lewis as the dad is even more creepily naive than J. M. Barrie in "Finding Neverland" in wanting innocent children to never grow up, even while indulging his own adult needs.

As with "Personal Velocity," Miller well captures conversational dialog within broken families, particularly across genders, and she is uncannily good at giving us young and older teens, as puberty is presented here as a palpable enemy.

Beau Bridges's good old boy developer is an overly stereotyped builder of ticky tacky McMansions; it would have been more interesting if he was threatening the wetlands with solar powered, energy recycling houses.

The continuing image of poisonous snakes is a bit heavy-handed symbolism of women as the cause for the fall of Eden. While Miller in a Q & A at a showing at the Landmark Sunshine Theater in NYC said she was inspired by the Gnostic Gospels, I saw ironic parallels with Lot's daughters, who coming from Sodom and Gomorrah have much in common with this daughter of a failed commune. Camilla Belle is excellent as a girl who gradually, albeit a bit scarily, discovers her powers, and her male counterparts are very believable as kids with their own problems.

Most of the audience was disquietingly dissatisfied with the ending and coda of the film, so much of the questioning to Miller focused on those aspects, as she claimed they were not after-thoughts or revisions. But the writing and characterizations shown did not support the changes she claimed the characters had gone through to justify the denouement.

An interesting comparison can be made with "Off the Map" which also views an alternative life style through the eyes of a budding teen age girl, but whose family is held together by an earth mother.

The Dylan and other singer-songwriter selections on the soundtrack are very effective.

There's nothing more exciting than seeing quality work come from a group of unknowns. While Daniel Day Lewis and Catherine Keener are the marquee name anchors for the film the most delightful surprises come from Camilla Bell and Ryan McDonald who give honest and often very mature performances. McDonald in particular has a knack for off-beat humor and gets some of the best lines in the film. Given the gorgeous setting, the beautiful cinematography and the high caliber writing I can't think of a better film I've seen so far this year. The movie is not without its flaws, but they're minimal in relation to all the elements that are wonderfully right.

This is a powerful and affecting film. I have a few quibbles about Ms. Miller's use of the camera and her editing, especially in the beginning as there were too many jerky cuts/unnecessary camera movements which were quite distracting. Thankfully they diminished as the film progressed.

Camilla Belle's as Rose performance was surprisingly nuanced and rich for such a young actress, she didn't have one false note and was totally believable as this "feral," innocent, yet disturbed teen. All the supporting actors were excellent, the characterizations and dialogue engaging and true and the emotional unraveling harrowing.

Day-Lewis' performance as Jack Slavin was outstanding. It hits you with such power that it left me flattened. While the credits ran I had to close my gaping jaw, peel myself off the movie chair and stumble up the aisle trying to absorb it all. Moment by moment he communicated paragraphs of information about Jack's multi-layered internal complexities with complete mastery and subtlety. The man's our finest film actor, period.

This movie has an original voice, it doesn't pander and despite some visual clichés, it follows its own unique internal logic. Definitely worth seeing, especially for the performances of Day-Lewis and Camilla Belle.

Any film starring the Daniel Day Lewis is a pretty safe bet. Although indisputably sexy, he grabs the roles which once were only for 'character actors', which in Hollywood meant past the best, not-bland, kooky, or downright ugly. This time, he's an ageing hippy from Motherwell (judging by his impeccable accent), living on in an abandoned commune with Rose, his daughter (Camilla Belle) who has been so well kept away from the corrupting influences of the outside world that she behaves like his clone, or sister, or lover. Nothing lasts for ever, and here it's Jack's failing health and Rose's growing up that threaten the status quo. Jack's attempt to patch up his way of life which is falling apart like the commune house itself, means importing his actual lover, who brings her two sons. Awkwardly for Jack, all these people have their own lives and aspirations, which is something he will have become unaccustomed to on his little island, and the clash leads everyone in directions none of them expected. A further complication is the building of a dinky housing estate which Jack's terrorist policies cannot halt, and again, the man responsible for this inroad from the modern world turns out to be a human, too. The story raises lots of questions about freedom and responsibility; not least through the fact that Jack can only live his pure, undefiled life because of inherited money. The plot is full of surprises and so are the cast, negotiating a multi-layered web of intrigue with as much delicacy as strength. Rebecca Miller clearly is a writer of singular imagination, and if this, her third film (although she started acting on-screen in 1988) is the way she intends to keep directing, then that's just fine. CLIFF HANLEY

This film is a must-see for anyone who has witnessed or is dealing with emotional incest. Lewis portrays Jack, a single father who has lived on an island in isolation with his daughter until his new girlfriend comes to move in. Up until the girlfriend's arrival, Jack and his daughter Rose have lived in isolation on an island compound.

After the girlfriend's arrival, Rose's jealousy grows, and she tries to take the girlfriend's place. In an effort to to marginalize the girlfriend, Rose takes up a new-found interest in sexuality, thinking that must be what her father wants and is getting from the girlfriend.

It's obvious to anyone watching that Jack loves his daughter, and in many ways has been a wonderful father to her. The problem is not that he does not love her, or that he loves her too much. The problem is that he's loved her in the wrong way. He allowed Rose to fill the void left by her mother. He elevated Rose to the position of spouse. Jack realizes this, and sets out to undo the damage.

The movie also deals with the dreams of reconciliation children of divorce have. Rose displays all the postcards her mother sends on a wall in the house and tells the new girlfriend that "one day she's coming back."

I always find Daniel Day-Lewis's characters engaging, and Jack is no different. He's a brilliant and eccentric man who is conflicted by the desire to love and protect his daughter, and the desire to prepare her to be an independent woman. He has the clarity to recognize his foibles, and his bumbling efforts to set things straight bring compassion to human frailty.