Intcatinfo A Masterpiece!

Hayden Kane There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Janae Milner Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

Dana An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Chris Smith (RockPortReview) Daniel Day Lewis is one of the greatest actors of his generation. His talent, craft, and commitment to his roles are second to none. Nominated for Best Actor five times by The Academy Awards taking home 3 golden trophies. For "My Left Foot (1990)", "There Will be Blood (2008)" and "Lincoln (2008)". One of his lesser known roles was in the small independent film "The Ballad of Jack & Rose (2005) Directed by his wife Rebecca Miller. It's a story about the relationship between a father and daughter living off the grid on an island off the east coast.Camilla Belle plays Rose the tomboyish teenage daughter who has spent her entire life on the island, sheltered from the rest of the world. Her mom had left the family when she was only five years old and has grown up alone with her father all these years. Jack is the last remaining hold out of an old hippie commune on which they live, unable to let go of the past and his strong ideals of how a society should behave. It's1986 and land developers are starting to infiltrate his sacred island, his battle is mainly with Marty Rance (Beau Bridges). For Jack this means War, but his declining health and lack of support make it an impossible task. Nobody can stop progress. The future will come whether you like it or not.With Rose getting older, about sixteen or so, Jack is forced to think about the future and what will happen when he dies. He starts to feel guilty for keeping Rose away from modern society and what will happen to her when she's on her own. Jack does go to the mainland now and then to shack up with Kathleen (Catherine Keener), a single mother of two teen boys, who is currently living in her mothers basement. They've know each other a while but their relationship has never too serious. To hopefully benefit Rose, Jack pays Kathleen to quit her job and move her kids to live with him on the island. Jack's "experiment" is a bumpy road and awakens feeling and emotion that will change all of them. Rose's emotional state becomes a little erratic to say the least, as Kathleen has now taken over most of Jack's time, this causes her to lash out and rebel in some extreme ways. Not to mention the introduction of two teenage boys. Rodney, is a self conscious and sensitive guy who is questioning his sexuality, while Thaddeus is a skinny womanizing rebel, played by Paul Dano, who also stars opposite Daniel Day Lewis in "There Will be Blood". Jack is surprised and shocked by what he see's in Rose and has to confront the fact that nothing lasts forever and that he has to let her go and experience the world, even if she might get hurt along the way. Operating on a budget of 1.5 million, this is prime example of how a strong story along with strong actors can make a great film.

VeronicaNotHeather About six months ago, Roger Ebert {RIP} re-reviewed this movie on twitter. In his initial review from 2005, he gave it 3 stars. After re-watching it, however, he stated that he had originally rated it too low. Frankly, I can see why he changed his mind. Ms. Miller's film is better upon a second viewing for one important reason--(brief spoiler ahead)--we now know (due to a later scene in the film) that Jack is not morally or emotionally capable of participating in a physical indiscretion with his daughter. The suspense about "will-they or won't they?" is gone and now we can watch the film solely for the purposes of analyzing the characters and determining how their relationship nearly became an incredibly destructive one. And this is where the truly insightful aspects of the film lie. We can care about Jack (despite his bad parenting) because we now know with certainly, he in not a monster--just a flawed and self-deluded man.Jack and Rose's (at-first unintentional) isolation results in a complex relationship teetering between a normal father/daughter one and an emotionally incestuous one in which almost accidentally, Rose has taken on the role of her mother (a woman who abandoned the communal life, their ecological cause and her family). Jack is a control freak but a mostly gentle one who is partly in denial about what his relationship with his 16 year old is evolving into. But at times, he certainly senses there is possible danger ahead and this, along with his impending death from heart disease, forces him to take some drastic actions..convincing the family of his part-time girlfriend to move in with them so as to create some boundaries between his daughter and himself.Jack is one complicated man. He's loving but is unfairly uncompromising and judgmental--that is until an epiphany moment in a land-developer's house that is both heartbreaking and oddly admirable. He doesn't hate people but, throughout most of the film, he stays isolated from them out of disappointment and heartbreak. He's charming and even funny but he's also takes himself too seriously at times and can be detached. Rose is loyal and responsible but also impulsive and inarticulate (expressing herself through actions.) She is innocent (even though she tries to engage in sexual acts with near strangers) but as one character deftly puts it, "Innocent people are dangerous people"--presumably because they are unsocialized and unaware of the impact they have on others. Any unnatural feelings she may have for her father have more to do with confusion and wanting to keep him close before he dies than anything else. The performances of this film are strong especially from Day-Lewis and Catherine Keener. DDL, with his perfect Scottish accent, gaunt frame, subtle eccentricity, brooding evasiveness, controlled anger, warmth, and lyrical charm makes Jack into a sympathetic character despite Jack's massive flaws as a man and a parent. And the films confirms by the end, that despite Jack's bad parenting choices, his intentions are honorable. Keener gives a heartbreaking and at times tough performance as a imperfect woman of limited financial means who doesn't feel at home unless she is caring for a man and who obviously prefers one of her sons over the other. Camilla Belle is strong as well. Although her character does express herself mostly through actions, she has some effectively tearful moments.Miller has created some complicated characters and strong dialog (particularly in the conversations between Jack and Kathleen and between Jack and Marty--the land developer).But, her use of symbolism is a bit heavy-handed at times and I wish she had avoided the almost sensationalistic building of suspense around the nature of Jack and Rose's relationship. Had the model home scene between Jack and Rose (and Jack's reaction to how things went down in that house) been at the beginning of the film and the rest of the film had built up to that moment, then I think Miller would have been acknowledging the white elephant in the room (in fact killing it by revealing Jack's restraint) and this would have shifted the audience's focus from wondering about whether Jack and Rose were going to do something horrid to trying to understand how these people nearly stepped over the line. The second time, one sees this film, it's not 'icky' anymore and therefore its insightful and moving nuances are more obvious.

paul2001sw-1 'The Ballad of Jack and Rose' tells the story of an ailing radical, living a seemingly idyllic life with his daughter, but with his future threatened by the twin threats of development and his own impending mortality. The real theme is sustainability, in it's broadest sense: Jack's world is environmentally sustainable, but not emotionally or economically so. There are some good performances, and the drama stops short of providing simple resolutions as Jack and Rose look to the future. There is some idealisation, however, of their disappearing lives: writer-director Rebecca Miller gives Jack an inheritance, to free him from the need to make compromises in his life, and a disease (a weak heart) he can bear nobly. The totality of Rose's isolation from the world also seems slightly exaggerated - it seems that, in the normal run of things, that the only person she speaks to is her father. I still liked the film, however; and was moved at its end.

shoegirl619 Daniel Day Lewis is an incredible actor, he is wonderful to watch but...while I was watching this movie I was thinking to myself "why in the world did D.D.L. make this piece of crap movie?" I feel it was an amazing talent wasted. The script didn't have enough meat in it for D.D.L.'s powerful acting ability. It had the 'potential' to be a good movie, but the directing, the timing, the flow, the storytelling ability, it just didn't work. And Beau Bridges, that whole story line was just weird and didn't make much sense. Sorry I know a lot you loved it, but it was boring, and it was a stinker....don't waste your time watching this.