La ballade de Little Jo

Highly recommended. If you're looking for an inspiring film about an inspiring woman, check it out.

I found this to be one of those "haunting" films that has stayed with me. Suzy Amis' performance has stuck with me since I first saw this movie in 1994.

As for the story, yes it's hard to believe that no one would notice a "man" who never had any facial hair, whose voice was fairly high and had such narrow shoulders but despite the unrealistic premise, it's a good story that keeps your attention all the way without the need for action (although there is some.)

Amis does transform her looks from a fairly pretty woman to someone that looks like a frail 17-year-old boy. David Chung, who plays her Asian friend (well, more than that) also is very good and Bo Hopkins also has a strong contribution as the neighbor.

But this movie belongs to Amis all the way and just the painful looks on her face alone are memorable enough for me. What a haunting, sad look! Thus, it is not a happy story, but it's powerful one and worth seeing. Worth hearing, too, with some nice guitar work for the soundtrack.

If you are looking for a western that has a different angle, this certainly qualifies.

This is a non-action-oriented Western about a woman who, for years, masquerades as a man. At the beginning of the film, she is thrown out by her father after she gives birth to an illegitimate child, so she travels west. However, along the way, she is attacked and decides to disguise herself as a guy so she'll be left alone. While this might be seen as a strongly feminist or gay-positive movie (featuring a very alternative lifestyle, indeed), the movie did not seem preachy or agenda-driven. Instead, it is a smart film that takes a very slow and leisurely pace to the ultimate conclusion. I would have preferred the pace and mood to perhaps be a little less somber, but considering how intelligent the film was, I will certainly forgive this.

Particular standouts are Suzy Amis as Jo and Bo Hopkins. I always felt that Hopkins was a bit of a light-weight (particularly considering the parts in the 1970s), but he proves himself to be an excellent actor. It's a real shame neither of these actors got much work after the film debuted--they certainly deserved it.

I've been waiting to see this film ever since it premiered in 1993, but only a couple of days ago I finally got a chance to see it on TV. It was well worth the wait, although I would have loved to have seen it on big screen instead. First of all, Suzy Amis who I think has repeatedly been miscast and generally far too unappreciated as an actress does a brilliant, intuitive job in the lead role. Her transformation from Josephine to Jo is touching and believable, and her performance all through the film maintains the very same characteristics. She avoids the trap of being a mere male imitation and instead builds her own tough concept of what constitutes a true man of honor living in the middle of the rough wilderness. Director Greenwald lets her story flow beautifully in its own calm pace; she makes Jo's expressive face the very core of this remarkable film - that's where all starts and, finally, ends. Film's gorgeous landscapes and panorama may take your breath away as well, but it's really the director's ability to understand Jo Monaghan's incredible life story that makes The Ballad of Little Jo such a magnificent experience.

Viewers looking for a classic western risk to be disappointed by this movie. It's not that shotgun duels are missing completely, but this film is not about shotgun duels. Most disappointed will certainly be action movies fans if they happen to see this film, as the pace is slow and the emphasize is on something else. Director Maggie Greenwald focused here on the life of women in the West, and on the possibility of leading an alternative style of life during that period.

The result is a different type of movie, different in subject, style and pace than you would expect. The title says it all maybe, the film is a ballad in the sense that it focuses on the hero - in this case a woman thrown out from her Eastern rich environment, running away, and choosing to live all her life in disguise as a man. Was this possible? Probably so, as the film is said to be inspired by a true story.

There is some fine acting especially from Suzy Amis which sustains the film, and also a very closely and carefully rendition of details of the day-to-day life in the epoch. However this is not enough to maintain interest for the full duration of the two hours, some of the characters seem too remote and too hard to read missing the chance to involve the viewer in becoming interested in their destinies. Maybe the director kept intentionally the distance and did not want to reveal too much of their secrets, same as the folks around Little Jo did not push too much to be able to understand her real secret. The result is that a film which could shock and involve by presenting the continuity of the harsh realities of the status of women and other minorities all over the American history fails to do so completely.

It is still worth watching, especially as the end brings at least part of that dose of sharpness and weirdness missing in much of the rest of the movie. I am however wondering where talents like director Maggie Greenwald and actress Suzy Amis disappeared in the fifteen years that passed since this film was released.