AltWeeklies Wire
Winter Walk: Lance Hammer's 'Ballast'new
A confident, if downbeat debut, Ballast eschews "indie" style for lean storytelling.
Pittsburgh City Paper |
Al Hoff |
02-02-2009 |
Reviews
'Ballast': The Weight of Death in the Mississippi Deltanew
Ballast is the first film from director Lance Hammer, and it would be easy to call it one of those movies where "nothing happens," except that a lot happens -- a shooting, a car chase, several beatings. These things just happen very quietly.
Willamette Week |
Aaron Mesh |
12-03-2008 |
Reviews
How Lance Hammer Earned His Beautiful New Film 'Ballast'new
It is but one of the many remarkable qualities of Ballast that its characters possess their quiet, unassailable dignity from the start rather than having it revealed (or, worse, bestowed upon them) by the filmmaker.
L.A. Weekly |
Scott Foundas |
11-14-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
'Ballast': Weight of the Worldnew
Taking measure of Lance Hammer's Sundance-awarded drama.
L.A. Weekly |
Ella Taylor |
11-07-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Ballast, Lance Hammer
'Ballast': An African-American Indie Film Fantasy Made for White Liberalsnew
Director-writer Lance Hammer shows a black Mississippi family torn apart by a double suicide attempt, drugs and alienation. But you have to see through these ludicrous black phantoms to the actual white middle-class fantasies at the film's core.
New York Press |
Armond White |
10-02-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Ballast, Lance Hammer
Romantic Devastationnew
Ballast is a single family's story. It's a story that, for its scant, struggling ray of hope (bond together as family, and things won't be OK, but they may get better), depicts Mississippi as a romantically devastated place.
Jackson Free Press |
Cheree Franco |
02-14-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Ballast, Lance Hammer
