Sometimes an actor's reputation is directly affected by his rate of productivity; appearing in too many movies can wear out a welcome, while an indefinite hiatus can impair name recognition. Some actors are better known for their constant output than the films they appeared in, whereas highly revered, picky stars flirting with early retirement inspire reliable interest in their latest project.
Daniel Day-Lewis, one of the more brilliant screen actors of our generation-unfortunately in semi-retirement-immediately brings drawing power to anything he chooses. It is that very drawing power that keeps much of Rebecca Miller's competent, yet artfully dreary \The Ballad of Jack and Rose"" afloat, even though the film only serves to give a diluted taste of Day-Lewis' infinitely better past work.
Miller, wife to Day-Lewis and daughter of seminal playwright Arthur Miller, wrote and directed this moody character study of aging hippie environmentalist Jack Slavin (Day-Lewis) and 16-year-old daughter Rose (Camilla Belle), an extremely close twosome living in a commune. First we are offered a brief but intimate glimpse of their intensely personal dynamic-just enough to see how its strength invites fragility when outsiders come in to threaten it for the first time.
Said opposition comes from Kathleen (Catherine Keener), Jack's occasional lover, and her sons Thaddeus (Paul Dano) and Rodney (Ryan McDonald), whom Jack impulsively invites to move in with them. The presence of another woman coupled with a critical Elektra complex catalyzes Rose's sexual awakening, resulting in her delicately tempting the more sensitive, overweight Rodney and, eventually, the budding womanizer Thaddeus. Incestuous undertones develop into overtones, and Jack's increasing conflict with a land developer (Beau Bridges) drive disparate storyline strands to their inevitably tragic breaking points.
Miller's intriguing assortment of somber oddballs interact quirkily, albeit inconsistently-trading makeup secrets one minute and brandishing shotguns at each other the next. Her pacing could be characterized as less ebb and flow than spurt-like fits and starts, pumping out a succession of shots of the gorgeous Edenic countryside accompanied by '60s music before progressing to lingering melodrama soaked in symbolism. Jittery camerawork only emphasizes the film's sporadic tonal shifts, which resemble flourishes of whimsical plotting that, despite being predictably off-the-wall, do not coincide with the characters' natures.
""The Ballad of Jack and Rose"" lags because, in regard to closure, it tests patience by repeatedly crying wolf with multiple endings. Instead of reinforcing a cohesive story, Miller gives material fit for a DVD ""special features"" menu, complete with a ""Two Years Later"" epilogue and still more stabs at cumulative lyricism. Miller's neglect toward a pivotal subplot undermines her third act and some of the quietly devastating conviction behind the frail, gaunt Day-Lewis' performance.
Despite Day-Lewis' anchoring presence, ""The Ballad of Jack and Rose"" feels slight and unremarkable; one has the feeling that Day-Lewis would never have accepted this role from anyone except the missus.
Miller does share her father's unrepentant penchant for melancholia and occasionally his sense of nuance, but fails to make her world fully accessible. She does possess a talent for showing people at their most startlingly vindictive and keeps her film mostly involving from start to finish, even though it bogs down at times thanks to a maddeningly unintentional sense of ambiguity. Miller indeed shows promise, but for when she makes another movie that doesn't depend so heavily on Day-Lewis, she'll need to make some significant dramatic departures from this ""Ballad.\
