The Ballad of the Sad Cafe (1991)

A haunting, occasionally grotesque little film, The Ballad of the Sad Café doesn't really work onscreen, despite the noble efforts of all involved. Michael Hirst has succeeded in bringing the bare bones of the Carson McCullers book (and Edward Albee play) to the screen, but director Simon Callow has not sufficiently filled in the emotional and atmospheric blanks necessary to make this delicate, difficult story the involving and wrenching experience it wants to be. Ballad is an outsized piece, requiring bold and confident yet discreet direction, and Callow's work is too hesitant and too reverential. That Ballad manages to work as well as it does is primarily due to the mesmerizing performance of Vanessa Redgrave. Wearing close-cropped hair and a weathered face that somehow suggests David Bowie, her performance is a powerhouse, almost an act of nature in its strength and intensity. There's life and vibrancy in every move of this character, perhaps too much so; at times, Redgrave overreaches, makes choices that simply don't work , especially given the restraint with which so much of the material is otherwise handled. But she at least has the courage to make those choices and to strive to capture the painful poetry that informs the McCullers original. Ballad needs to dig deeper to capture the perverse beauty it purports to celebrate, but Redgrave provides enough lightning flashes of brilliant illumination to make the film worthwhile. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide