Rent The Ballad of the Sad Café (1991)

Stage Play Adaptation That's a Little Weird. - The Ballad of the Sad Café review by GI

This is a somewhat strange film, a period drama cum comedy that was based on a stage play and feels like it too. Set in Depression era southern USA in a small hick town where the eccentric Amelia (Vanessa Redgrave) runs the local store, dishes out homemade remedies as well as moonshine. She's both feared and loathed by the community for her strange ways. The town is most surprised when a diminutive hunchback (Cork Hubbert) arrives claiming to be her cousin and that she takes him in and seems to dote on him. His influence has her convert her store into a cafe where the locals enjoy dances, food and liquor and all is merry until Amelia's estranged husband (Keith Carradine) returns leading to big tensions. Directed by Simon Callow, indeed his only film as director, this runs like a play and its plot seems very forced and at times faintly ridiculous. There's no doubt Redgrave in particular gives solid performance and the presence of Rod Steiger as the town priest is interesting although he has only a cameo role. This is not a film I enjoyed particularly but its recent return to BluRay might make it a film people want to check out.