Ballast 2008

In the most widely praised debut at Sundance this year, a teenage boy, his mother and uncle are drawn together after the suicide of the boy's estranged father. Their emotional realignment is divulged elliptically but precisely in beautifully honed scenes. The wintry rural Mississippi setting is etched just as surely; its bleakness seems as stark a challenge to regeneration as the long-held family antagonisms. — BG

"A startlingly assured, pitch-perfect first feature... The magnificently solemn newcomer Micheal J. Smith Sr, and an equally excellent theater actress, Tarra Riggs, play warring family members who find themselves circling each other warily in the wake of a devastating suicide... the film owes an obvious debt to the Dardennes in its sense of urgency, intimacy and carefully articulated feel for place without in any way being a slavish imitation." — Manohla Dargis, NY Times.