User reviews

Confirms Vannessa Redgraves status are one of the great actresses, a suspicion I first had watching "The Devils"(which if you haven't seen, you need to see, asap.).

Miss Amelia is the wealthiest women in a small southern town, she is tall, muscular, lean, and not at all ladylike. She serves as the towns doctor, as well as its chief landlord, and money lender. She brews the towns only supply of alcohol, in a distillery accessible only by a swim through the swamp. She is the town eccentric, but also the pillar of the community, everyone owes her something and without her nothing gets done. She lives a solemn and lonely life(writing stories, keeping up with her business), and is otherwise content, until a dwarf with a hunchback shows up, claiming to be her cousin.

The photograph he shows her of his mother, half sister of her mother, is too blurry to be unidentifiable, but she accepts him just the same. Cousin Lymon can do magic, tell jokes, and plays the harmonica. He encourages her to turn her general store into a café, where people can drink inside(not just on the porch), where the piano can be played, and company can be had. The café, brings a life to the dismal town, where once there was none.

The town is shocked by the sudden turnaround in their own lives and Amelias who goes from wearing her usual blue jeans suspenders to dresses(something they cant remember since she was a girl). Amelia dotes on Lymon, buys a car to drive him into the city, and all is well, until Amelia's husband, Marvin Macy returns from prison.

Marvin Macy, was in love with Amelia years ago, and thought his proposal to her would turn his sordid life around. She agreed to the marriage amicably enough, until the wedding night. Then she threw him down the stairs and insisted he sleep in the barn. Macy then turned over all his property to her to woo, her, but alas, to the barn he was sent. Til he eventually abandoned the town altogether, after one emasculating episode too many.

When he returns, cousin Lymon is immediately smitten with him, he cant wait to talk to someone whose been on a "chain gang, to Atlanta, and in a real prison." Lymon is something of a child, and Macy is a "man". There's a good deal of ambiguity in the sexuality of both Lymon and Amelia, though.

Macy abuses Lymon, more and more who follows him like a puppy, while Amelia withers watching and waiting for Lymon, to give up his infatuation, so it can be just the two of them again. A love without the sex(presumably, and implicitly), a companionship which she can accept and return.

The towns reverend tells Macy's sister in law, "All I know is... that it takes two people to be in love. It takes the... lover... and the beloved. But these two, they come from... diff'rent countries. And sometimes, the... the beloved is the cause for all the, all the stored-up love that's lain in the heart of the lover for such... a long time, and every lover knows that... deep... deep in his soul, he knows that his love is a lonely and solitary thing. That's why I guess most of us, we'd rather be... the lover than to be loved, I mean, because the state of being'... beloved is... is intolerable. See an' then, after a while... the beloved gets to hate the lover, because the lover's always trying to strip, strip, strip bare... the beloved. See, that's because the... the lover... 'e craves that love -- even though he knows that that love can only cause 'im pain.", in the film, and the novella it was based on's defining scene.

The film climaxes in a fist fight, in the café between Amelia and Macy(thats right a no holds bared, knock down drag out fist fight, which again confirms Redgraves greatness). Literally duking it out for Cousin Lymon who watches gleefully from the sidelines.

Like "Wise Blood" its a surprisingly faithful adaptation of the southern classic of love and the grotesque. Carson Mcullers novella, of which this was based on is one of my favorite books. Actor Simon Callow does a good job directing the material, there's some particularly beautiful moments which bookend the film, featuring men on a chain gang. The cinematography on the whole is accomplished, and the rustic music, fitting the mood excellently. There is one awkward moment at the end of the fight, see it and you will know what I mean.

Its a funny, unique, and sad film, film that captures the "blindess" of love, better than any other. On a personal level Mcullers had a horrific marriage, both her and her husband having numerous failed homosexual relationships(and him eventually asking her to commit suicide with him, and her leaving, as he finally went through with it). Its easy to see this as a personal story as much as a universal one, of the right love, in the wrong person. Or culturally as a story of a powerful independent women, compromised by her own emotions, and brought down by the cruelty of the men around her. Though Amelia is as cruel to Macy, as he later is to her, so maybe what goes around comes around too. There's many ways to look at it and they're all true on some level. So basically the book is great and the movie is pretty good. See em both if you can.

We watched this movie again last night because I remembered seeing it when it first came out on video and when our local video store sold out all its VHS tapes this is one we bought. I liked it just as much this time but still have not read the Carson Mc Cullers story it was based on. We don't really understand what it is that has formed the character of Miss Amelia. . . her greed, her dominance of the town and its poverty stricken residents. She seemed to fill every need the town had except for that of citizen on an equal footing with the others. Seemingly the store she ran had been her father's before her but that alone does not explain the force of her personality and disposition. She obviously has married Marvin Macy to get his property but we do not understand what the appeal of her "cousin" Lymon is unless it is that he has no respect for her and uses her in the same way she uses everyone else. His infatuation with Marvin is more understandable than is Amelia's with Lymon. I thought the cast were all wonderful, including the preacher, who had some of the best and most human lines. Vanessa Redgrave was marvelous. The pacing and photography were excellent. At times though I felt as if I was watching a stage play instead of a movie. In writing this I do realize why Miss Amelia was who she was. She was angry because her own stage was so limited. For some reason she must have felt locked in to that tiny corner of the world when she could with her personality, have held sway over a much larger number of people and geographic area!

I just purchased this through the Merchant & Ivory DVD collection. I must admit I was unaware of who Carson McCullers was until I realized that she also wrote "A Heart is a Lonely Hunter". True to her style, this is a dark tale with the edge of by-sexuality in the main character (as McCullers was also). The movie it self is less than imaginative with some scenic wonders and yet with placid and flat acting. Simon Callow is not a good director and I definitely love the man as an actor more. Some scenes are memorable and the color red is used beautifully as a dress and a shirt - when you see it you will know how and why. Definitely put in the rent category for a somber afternoon.

This film adaptation of Carson McCullers' novella is the best of all the screen versions of her works. Cinematography is excellent. Vanessa Redgrave turns in a great performance as the stoic Miss Amelia, unlucky in love but yearning to fulfill her thwarted desire to love and be loved. With the arrival of a dwarf claiming to be a relation, Miss Amelia finds herself able to live and love again. But with the arrival of Marvin Macy, her absentee husband, things take a change for the worse.

The other performances are good, and the scenery and costumes accurately reflect a Depression-era southern backwater. A near-literal transcription from book to screen, without annoying time changes, character elimination, or overacting to distract from it. Good.

Vanessa Redgrave is incredible, and memorable, in the role of Miss Amelia, the androgynous ruler of a small Depression-era Southern hamlet. She tends to citizens' medical needs, and manufactures hooch for them as well. Then, her life is shaken up, first by the arrival of hunchbacked little person Lymon (Cork Hubbert), who claims to be her cousin, and then the reappearance of her husband Marvin (Keith Carradine), whom she kicked to the curb rather than go to bed with him on their wedding night. Could be, he's out for revenge.....

Directed by British stage & screen actor & director Simon Callow, this is a Southern Gothic melodrama with a difference. It can be rather strange and offbeat, but overall it's too interesting to dismiss outright. An adaptation of a novel (by Carson McCullers), and subsequent play (by Edward Albee), it has a very convincing look & feel, with top of the line production design & cinematography.

The eclectic supporting cast also includes Rod Steiger, Austin Pendleton, Lanny Flaherty, Earl Hindman, and Anne Pitoniak. While it's true that Carradine has done better work, and while I found the character of Lymon rather annoying at times, a severely de-glamorized Redgrave is a perfect anchor for this ultimately sordid tale. She completely disappears inside her role.

In the end, this serves as a reckoning for a character who misses one chance at love, but is able to love and enjoy life for a time before fate steps in.

Six out of 10.

I saw this twice when it was playing so long ago in the theater, and in certain respects I loved it. A fan of the author's books, I was already inclined to like the film, but ultimately it didn't feel like the director could land it properly. I'm not entirely sure why that was, but my guess is that so much the source material is deeply "internal" which can be difficult to translate to the screen. And yet, for there are certain scenes that are as near perfect as can be. Vanessa Redgrave is so great throughout, and "dressed as a man" or not (I'm referring to another reviewers objections) she exudes a kind of pent up sensuality and power.

Keith Carradine does his thing, and the actor who plays the hunched dwarf is especially good. The love trifecta plays out as somewhere between tragedy and farce, leaving one to contemplate just how "bound" we are to the bodies we are given on our stay here on Earth.

In tone the movie closely resembles something you'd associate with the Cohen Brothers, though this director seemed reticent to fully embrace the strangeness inherent in the writings of Carson Mcullars. Perhaps the real problem is that a film version might be better served by a woman director? When this was filmed though there were very few female directors in Hollywood. In any case, it's certainly worth a viewing for those looking for stories off the path a bit.

The film is further aided by excellent cinematography and a strong soundtrack composition.

When one considers that Carson McCullers is one of the foremost literary figures of the 20th century, it seems that it needs a very great lack of talent to be able to ruin one of her stories, but this movie shows it can be done! How do actors ingratiate their way to becoming directors? Wooden, unatmospheric, unsympathetic, totally out of sync with the poetic compassion of McCullers' writing, my jaw dropped with horror and disbelief that such a mish-mash of a movie could ever have found finance and backers. The only redeeming features are some moderately good acting, (although that said, Vanessa Redgrave seems to permanently render much the same performance whatever character she plays), and some good cinematography in places, but otherwise it is a bitter, bitter disappointment, and it could, and indeed should, have been a contemporary masterpiece. Simon Callow should hang his head in shame and stick to acting!

How do you make a totally unappealing movie out of a story by one of America's most famous authors? Watch this film and find out. Maybe I am overrating author Carson McCullers, but I was impressed by "The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter" and was hoping for something memorable here, too. Forget it.

Vanessa Redgrave looks like a man with her short haircut and clothing. I never found her much to get excited about in almost any movie, anyway. Rod Steiger as a preacher? How insulting is that? Unlikable characters, one after the other. Well, maybe that's the book, too, and I am being unfair to this film. I am not familiar with the story other than what I saw on screen and this was so unappealing a movie that I could never recommend it to anyone.

It's just one backwards person after another in a backward town. Outside of some nice cinematography here and there, there is nothing to recommend. How anyone could sit through 100 minutes of this is amazing.

I didn't even go into how bad this is directed. There is good news: this was the only film Simon Cowell directed.

This film demonstrates an excellent use of both dialog and cinematography to evoke a mysterious, yet stark atmosphere. Redgrave is especially excellent in her portrayal of a character that defies easy description or explanation. The score, too, works to create a specific place, but never falls to the easy trap of using simple folk-music styles in order to provide a sonic backdrop.

Overall, The Ballad of the Sad Cafe is a haunting and beautiful exploration of human emotions and inhuman behaviors. I would highly recommend this film to everyone interested in an eerie combination of the real and surreal.

"The Ballad of the Sad Café" worked hard at its image, but when it came down to crunch-time, it was left standing in its own self-created dust.

One cannot image saying this out loud, but if Vanessa Redgrave's Amelia were to fight John Wayne or even Clint Eastwood, my hard-earned dollars would have to go to Redgrave. Her portrayal of Amelia was as close to perfection and consumed with more detailed dedication than most actors are willing to give to any multi-million dollar contracted persona. Redgrave gave Amelia this soulful drawl that was a blend of her own unique voice and a hard-earned woman from the south. To the average viewer, this could be construed as annoying, but as the film progressed it became her – Miss Amelia transforming this stage beauty into a roughneck. It was Redgrave's performance, as well as her interaction with the other characters, that made this film stand tall – but not the tallest. The others following her performance were needed, but not stellar. As we moved past the murky cliché image passed on by every set designer hired for the post-Depression South job, the minor characters felt like poster board. The image was needed to set the scene, but the characters of the town had no other purpose. Take for example Rod Steiger's vision of some old, wild spoken preacher. His scenes alone will make any viewer question the validity of this off-the-beaten-path town. The main two players who surrounded Amelia battled with charm for the admirable top scene-stealing moment, but due to the lacking direction – it just seemed faded. The most absurd of the two (albeit both rank high among the questionable sanity line) is Cork Hubbard who plays Amelia's "cousin" who shows up randomly one night. His character is never quite defined, he lacks true motive, and his loyalties remain uncertain. He plays no vital role in this film outside of forcing us, the viewers, to question his sanity and honesty. Can you create a character simply by sticking out your tongue, flicking your ears, and punching your chest and head? Finally, there is the other end of the absurd – Keith Carradine. Callow's close-ups of this tormented man build character, but our lack of understanding between him and Amelia causes his purpose to flounder. These were the characters, as cliché Southern as they were – some stood forward and attempted to create an absurdist period piece, and I cannot argue that they failed.

Where "Ballad of the Sad Café" failed to rise above mediocrity was in the cinematography and narrative. This film was about Amelia, and her need for other souls in her life. The audience's level of comfort with the arrival of her midget cousin was entertaining – one couldn't help but wonder if he was honest or merely a confidence man attempt to leech off a warm heart. Cork Hubbard's character is never quite understood, but we do accept him with brief shots of him and Amelia doing small things together. It is his idea that transforms from a recluse businesswoman to a bona-fide café owner. The problem is that director Callow never quite takes us to that dramatic take level between Cork and Redgrave – is the man crazy or does he represent all of Amelia's family? I needed something from Callow that brought these two out of the David Lynch-esquire relationship that they had. Then our pool gets even deeper with the addition of Carradine as Amelia's "love interest". Using the technique of a flashback within a flashback, we see the two wed, but never consummate their love – which Amelia's anger against their love drawing him into the world of madness. Why was Amelia so angry? Why was there no connection between Carradine and Redgrave? Why was this even in the film? With the lack of focus towards these characters's connection, the eventual scenes between the two made no sense – throw in Cork's choice and it just gets completely discombobulated. While there were a few beautiful choreographed scenes that Callow created, the inability to transfer his characters from point A to point B. I lost focus, interest, and my care for the characters plummeted when I didn't understand the ultimate question – "why"?

Overall, "The Ballad of the Sad Café" began with a bang, but ended with a very small crack of a firecracker. My emotional feel of this film swung up and down, up and down, and eventually stayed further down mainly due to the lack of understanding of the motives of the characters. Redgrave did a phenomenal job as Amelia, and while the other characters (outside of the random Steiger) tried their best, I just didn't quite understand who they were. Their motives were so muddled that when the emotional ending finally occurred, I was apathetic. Director Callow seemed to have been lacking importing connecting scenes that would allow us to understand the dynamic relationship between all of our main players. Callow created some beautiful scenes where faces seemed to overlap the scenery, which allowed us to focus on Amelia – or Carradine, but nothing was explained or developed. The film played out with anger, discover, happiness, flashback, anger, anger, anger, fade out. Without the comparative connectors, this transformed from distinguished period film to actors playing parts in front of camera. It was a shame, because "Sad Café" had the promise, it just couldn't deliver.

Grade: ** ½ out of *****

Simon Callow is a great director and a visionary and should set his sights on directing again. Edward Albee's story is touching and funny, a true classic and Callow does a solid and witty job of bringing it to life. The acting by Carradine is questionable but Vanessa Redgrave makes up for that. Also Rod Steiger is always a sure thing. Callow should do more directing.

I have to say this, this is the first movie I'm reviewing on here I didn't finish watching. I mean.. I COULDN"T CONTINUE! No matter how adamant I am for watching things until the bitter end, 'The Ballad Of The Sad Café' proved no match to this viewer. Vanessa Redgrave stars as the Strange Woman in Town who does things like walk through the river with a full set of clothes on. Anyways,. A long lost relative comes to visit, he's a midget and… well, that's as far as I got. What the heck was the point of all of this? I didn't even bother to wait for Michael Carradine to come on, as I was already pummeled senseless by the combination of the slow script AND having to deal with a midget in a dramatic role. I call this coffee table cinema. The type of cinema that appeals to just a scant few of you, but the others just STAY AWAY.

This film needs to digest, it has a shock factor but without using adult content. The acting is great, glorious even. What stands out is the relationship between a man and woman. Other actors play key parts but the characterization of the couple, first Vanessa Redgrave (Miss Amelia) and then her man Keith Carradine (Marvin Macy) plus a third wheel are at the center. It uses gothic elaboration on southern stereotypes, larger than life, and so maybe tempting to dismiss what it says about couples simply because it's freakish. Other 'reality' couples films out recently like 'Marriage Story' by Noah Baumbach suggest falsely that an angry separation is either heroic or acceptable. But The Ballad of the Sad Cafe doesn't lie, the shocking human spectacle remains.

I caught this film on IFC one night. I felt compelled to watch this because of the performances. I don't know anything of the book nor the play. I found the movie very enjoyable and the performances rather good. Miss Amelia's part was amazing to me. Vanessa Redgrave did a great job in this movie even if it doesn't fit the book or the play. She was the main reason I was drawn to watching this movie. I found that the part where Rod Steiger told the story of the "lover and the beloved" was the fulcrum of this film. I had the feeling that cousin Lymon was just like Marvin Macy. The character was a user who just latched onto people who he could take advantage of, that is why they get together in the end. They both met the same goal even if they both used Miss Amelia in different ways. I did find that the director could have done a better job with all the coordination between the characters, they could have meshed better. It's OK not to reveal why people act the way they do with each other (Miss Amelia kicking Marvin Macy out on the night of the wedding). Rod Steiger already stated that Marvin Macy was not a great person prior to this. I think that Miss Amelia just wouldn't let Marvin Macy take any advantage of her in any manner and it started on the wedding night. It boiled down to a boxing match between the two. The fact they both hit each other at the first punch and the look on Marvin's face hit this fact home.

That's my view.

The Ballad of the Sad Cafe is a great film. I guess everyone who couldn't stand it saw it, because I just saw it (5-23-06) and thought it was a good movie. I might also add that I was very sleepy, and I always fall asleep while watching a film. I've slept through The African Queen, The Lion in Winter and other great classics that are praised by critics alike. This gives the film that added bonus that I can stay awake while watching it. Vanessa Redgrave is wonderful, as usual, and delivers a great performance. The other actors I have a question about, their names, but the actor who played Cousin Lyman was good. I couldn't stand him at all for what he was doing to Amelie. The ending scene is very good and heartbreaking. I mean, I'd watch this 10 times in a row to see Vanessa box with some punk husband who she never truly loved and never thought of their marriage as a give and take, but more of a contract. This is a great film!

A fascinating story by Carson McCullers, which was made into a play by playwright Edward Albee. An unusual performance from Vanessa Redgrave with supporting roles from Rod Steiger as the priest. The key element in the film are the shots of the chain gang that begins and ends the film as are camera shots of the fields green and fruitful that moves on the adjacent fields harvested and ready to be cultivated and the reversal of the sequence at the end. Very realistic production design. Sometimes while watching the film, you get the feeling you are watching a play on stage. Rather than a film. But the director changes that view if you watch the film closely and absorb the opening and sequences I mentioned. Walter Lassaly's cinematography, which includes arresting close-ups, is another noteworthy aspect of the film rarely discussed. Thank you, producer Ismael Merchant for doggedly pursuing the idea of bringing the tale and play to the screen. I had interviewed Merchant in 1982 in New Delhi and at that time he had not made this film. How I wish I had chance to ask him so many questions on this film! One question would have been why director James Ivory and screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Merchant's trusted collaborators on so many films, opted out of this one.

Having seen the "definitive" stage version of this, featuring Colleen Dewhurst and Michael Dunn, I wasn't hopeful for this film holding a candle to it. I came away feeling that this particular piece does not translate to film. Vanessa Redgrave is a wonderful actress and seeing her beautiful, expressive face with no makeup and her hair cut short is quite startling, but effective. I found myself focusing on her big blue eyes most of the time, as they told the mood of her character throughout. I doubt they could've found anyone better for the role. It's simply that the entire production didn't quite gel. It truly works better in the theatre. I'm still not entirely decided on whether I completely disliked it.

It's good to lose oneself in the hot sweltering world of McCullers, where the characters are giant sized versions of sexual frustration. This has fine performances and a real feel for the south as McCullers writes about it. The south is America's lost innocence, and as nearly everbody in the western world is more or less an American, it is ours too.

To take on a film version of this classic play is a bold venture. They almost pull it off, but with a poor acting job by Caradine and some questionable directorial choices it doesn't quite live up to expectations. The flying midget scene actually had me laughing . . . A powerful story that someone should take some time with and do justice to.