Linbeymusol Wonderful character development!

Ameriatch One of the best films i have seen

Voxitype Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Derry Herrera Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

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.

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.

disa-6 You won't get any spoilers here, I didn't hang around long enough to know how it ended. An hour was more than enough.A lot has already been said in these reviews about heavy-handed symbolism, staccato dialogue, lack of subtlety, etc, and also Day-Lewis's brave attempt to salvage something from it, so I won't rehash those.However, I wish to mention something that REALLY irritated me, and that was the camera work. A lot of it was in close-up, and they presumably used a hand-held camera. This led to such a jerky picture that at times I felt vague motion sickness. I've seen home movies done better.

amy f This was the worst film I have ever seen it didn't make sense at all. two hours of my life i will never get back and tats how i really feel then i wasted a further half hour on two people telling them how awful this film was so over all 3 hours of my life and how ever long it takes me to rite this comment i will never get back. i have read over some peoples comments and i really don't get how any body liked this film and some people say it changed there life how answer me tat how?? now i don't now about any other countries but in Ireland it went straight to DVD and now i now why because it was so rubbish. like Wat was up wit rose gagging for it and then her brother (Paul Dano) having sex wit her i wanted to get sick and then she hung the sheet on the line shes gone in the head and then kissing her dad that was disgusting and what i really didn't get about the film was the end actually i didn't get the whole thing but the end what was that when the camera went to Gary(Jason lee) he kissed some woman then he turns his head and you see rose some body explain as i was like what the hell just happened there? overall as u mite of guessed i disliked the film and wouldn't recommend it to any one.