The Ballad of the Sad Cafe

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... Full review

"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... Full review

This is the stupidest movie I have EVER seen in my entire life!!!!!!!!!!!!! It makes no sense whatsoever. I would rather eat glass than have to sit through this movie.... Full review

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... Full review

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... Full review

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... Full review

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... Full review

Very good adaptation of Carson McCullers' incredible novella. The highly versatile Vanessa Redgrave is superb, as usual. I did not really know what to expect from Keith Carradine in his role, but was not disappointed. I was very happy to... Full review

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.... Full review

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... Full review

While this movie is well made and has the feel of a literary work He spends a lot of the film just brooding and glaring. There was one problem with the casting and that is the fact that Vanessa Redgrave is a over a decade older than Keith Carradine. ... Full Review

Ballad of the Sad Cafe" is certainly beautiful in the Merchant-Ivory manner; the film can be seen as a painterly tableau vivant of the Deep South. But the film lacks McCullers's unique storytelling voice ... Full Review

Mannered and slow-moving, "The Ballad of the Sad Cafe" is mostly an irritating exercise in mystification; it's murky nonsense, but Redgrave's presence is a guarantee that the nonsense is shot through with genius. To attempt an intelligible synopsis of the film's story line would be foolhardy; it works more through a bumper-car collision of symbol and metaphor than by narrative. ... Full Review

`The Ballad of the Sad Cafe" comes wrapped in cultural glory; it is based on a novel by Carson McCullers and a play by Edward Albee, and yet it persists in sounding like a sketch for "Saturday Night Live." ... Full Article

It's painful watching the great Vanessa Redgrave struggle to play Miss Amelia, the protagonist of the Carson McCullers novella The Ballad of the Sad Caf. ... Full Article