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Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: Ballast strikes me as one of the few American pictures of 2008 to say what it wants to say, visually and narratively, about a specific situation and part of the country, in a way that transcends regional specifics. Read more
J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: Lance Hammer shot this debut feature in natural light, using nonprofessional actors, and with its jump cuts, music-free soundtrack, and plaintive Mississippi Delta landscapes it seems as raw as the characters' emotions. Read more
Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: This ostensibly simple film evokes whole lives in 96 minutes, and does so with sparse dialogue. Read more
Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: The movie is a beacon of independent filmmaking, not simply because Hammer opted more or less to self-distribute it, but because it's evident that we're a million miles away from Hollywood. Read more
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: This austere, rigorous film has a sense of place, a feeling for reality so compelling it makes us feel like we're living it, not just watching on a screen. Read more
Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: Ballast lacks ballast. Much praised by aficionados of minimalist indie cinema -- hey, who needs a plot when you've got mood? -- it's a wearying slog through anomie in a Mississippi Delta township. Read more
Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: As the movie comes into focus, you feel the lives of the characters echoing backward through time. Read more
Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: This is a cinematic tone poem, where the dominant mood is a Faulknerian mix of sorrow and endurance... Read more
Ella Taylor, L.A. Weekly: Ballast is an impressive first feature. Read more
Lou Lumenick, New York Post: Hammer, whose blunt name belies the movie's many subtle touches, has his own distinct style. He also has an enormous trust in the audience to sort out this wounded family's miseries without the assistance of narration or even a musical score. Read more
Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer: What this unclassifiable story may lack in decibels, it has in emotional depth. Read more
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: I always say I hardly ever cry at sad films, but I sometimes do, just a little, at films about good people. Read more
Walter V. Addiego, San Francisco Chronicle: Ballast is truly a winter's tale, set in a bleak and rainy corner of the Mississippi Delta and recounting the story of three African Americans teetering on the edge in just about every way. Read more
Peter Howell, Toronto Star: Debut writer/director Lance Hammer has rendered [Ballast] with something that can only be called radiant austerity. Read more