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Movies / Upcoming / The Black Balloon
The Black Balloon

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The Black Balloon (2008)

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Reviews Counted:39

Fresh:35

Rotten:4

Average Rating:7/10

Consensus: A tender and witty portrayal of a family coping with autism, The Black Balloon is heartfelt without being schmaltzy or moralizing.

Runtime: 1 hr 37 mins

Genre: Dramas

Synopsis: The Black Balloon is a story about fitting in, discovering love, and accepting your family. It’s not easy being Thomas. He’s turning sixteen; and moving into a new house, and school. His older... The Black Balloon is a story about fitting in, discovering love, and accepting your family.

It’s not easy being Thomas. He’s turning sixteen; and moving into a new house, and school. His older brother Charlie announces their arrival to the neighbours by banging a wooden spoon and wailing on the front lawn. Charlie doesn’t speak. He’s autistic and has ADD. He’s also unpredictable, sometimes unmanageable, and often disgusting. Thomas hates his brother but wishes he didn’t.

The Mollisons are an army family; but it’s not what you’d call a regimented life, or even a regular household. Thomas’s cricket-obsessed father, Simon, talks to his teddy. Simon and Maggie are openly intimate, and now Maggie is going to have another baby.

One morning, the semi-naked Charlie escapes the house and leads Thomas on a chase across the neighbourhood. Charlie bursts into a stranger’s house to use the toilet; and Thomas finds himself face to face with Jackie Masters, his gawky but fascinating new classmate. The trouble is she’s in the shower.

Maggie has complications with her pregnancy and becomes bedridden. Thomas and Simon between them take on Charlie’s daily routine; and Thomas experiences the less savoury aspects of coping with his brother. What he didn’t bargain for was the shit-smearing, shopping centre tantrums, and riding in the Autistic School bus. It’s sink or swim; and Thomas is drowning.

The truth is he is – literally. The school swimming lessons are a nightmare, because Thomas has never got beyond doggie paddle. Then Thomas is partnered with Jackie for basic life-saving; and Jackie swims like a fish. It’s only when they get to mouth-to-mouth resuscitation that things pick up and young love blossoms between the two – well, three, because Charlie is also entranced by the pretty girl.

Thomas’s birthday dinner turns into a nightmare. Pent-up frustrations about his brother pour out that are both confronting and ultimately heart-warming. --© NeoClassic Film Ltd. [More]

Starring: Rhys Wakefield, Luke Ford, Toni Collette, Erik Thomson

Starring: Rhys Wakefield, Luke Ford, Toni Collette, Erik Thomson, Gemma Ward

Director: Elissa Down

Director: Elissa Down
Screenwriter: Elissa Down, Jimmy Jack
Producer: Tristan Miall
Composer: Michael Yezerski
Studio: NeoClassics

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Reviews for The Black Balloon

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1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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The youth-oriented movie introduces a glowing young Australian actress with true star potential -- the international model Gemma Ward.

Full Review Source: Screen International | comment Comment
10/18/08
Frank Hatherley
Frank Hatherley
Screen International

Tackles a serious theme with energy and what sometimes feels like too much hilarity. But as the story deepens, it really gets hold of us.

Full Review Source: Shadows on the Wall | comment Comment
08/17/08
Rich Cline
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall

It's a well-meaning film, marked by Luke Ford's sensitive portrayal of a disabled character. But the main character is bland, imparting the same vibe on the rest of the film.

Full Review Source: Times-Picayune | comment Comment
08/14/09
Mike Scott
Mike Scott
Times-Picayune

The Black Balloon is neither 'Rain Man' nor 'The Other Sister. This Aussie charmer charts its own course.

Full Review Source: What Would Toto Watch? | comment Comment
05/03/09
Christian Toto
Christian Toto
What Would Toto Watch?

Thomas and Jackie's friendship, blossoming into a chaste romance, is the dramatic engine that powers The Black Balloon, but it's far from the most important relationship in the film.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
05/01/09
Michael O'Sullivan
Michael O'Sullivan
Washington Post
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Boston Phoenix | comment Comment
04/23/09
Alicia Potter
Alicia Potter
Boston Phoenix

The film's vision is neither a grim wallow nor falsely cheerful. It's compassionate but unblinking, and in the end we can't help but admire the genuine strength of how its characters accept their special challenge.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | comment Comment
04/17/09
Walter V. Addiego
Walter V. Addiego
San Francisco Chronicle

The Black Balloon is marked by the fiercest bravery you're likely to encounter on screen this year.

Full Review Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | comment Comment
04/16/09
Graham Killeen
Graham Killeen
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

At its sharpest Elissa Down’s feature directorial debut is guided by intense, rough-edged emotional swings that feel authentically alive, even when the script settles for tidiness.

Full Review Source: Chicago Tribune | comment Comment
04/10/09
Michael Phillips
Michael Phillips
Chicago Tribune

The Black Balloon establishes this family with a delicate mixture of tenderness and pain.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
04/10/09
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A film that mostly skirts artifice and sentimentality for a truer portrait of a family battered and bruised but nowhere near broken.

Full Review Source: Austin Chronicle | comment Comment
04/09/09
Kimberly Jones
Kimberly Jones
Austin Chronicle

The outlines are broad and obvious, and Thomas such a bore, that The Black Balloon loses air.

Full Review Source: Arizona Daily Star | comment Comment
04/08/09
Phil Villarreal
Phil Villarreal
Arizona Daily Star

There are wrenching scenes that are brutally stark, yet there remains a steady sense of calm that is touching and sensitive without ever turning sentimental.

Full Review Source: Seattle Times | comment Comment
04/02/09
Ted Fry
Ted Fry
Seattle Times

Structurally and cinematically, The Black Balloon sticks to the coming-of-age basics, but [director] Down has a gift for conveying time and place.

Full Review Source: Boston Globe | comment Comment
04/02/09
Ty Burr
Ty Burr
Boston Globe

It sometimes skirts melodrama territory, but the deep emotions ultimately are real and gratifying. Dependable Toni Collette keeps it grounded, disappearing into her role as the incredibly patient mother.

Full Review Source: Oregonian | comment Comment
03/06/09
Stan Hall
Stan Hall
Oregonian

The Black Balloon, a splendid Australian film about a teenager and his older autistic brother, gets it, from the happy/sad imagery of the title through the uplifting, but not saccharine, finale.

Full Review Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune | comment Comment
03/06/09
Colin Covert
Colin Covert
Minneapolis Star Tribune

Collette aside, there is no wow factor in The Black Balloon -- just a not-bad story told with better-than-average skill.

Full Review Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press | comment Comment
03/06/09
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
St. Paul Pioneer Press

It's a film about a supposedly real-world set-up that never feels true, even though the people who made it clearly set out to treat their subject matter and the audience with respect.

Full Review Source: Movie Retriever | comment Comment
03/06/09
Brian Tallerico
Brian Tallerico
Movie Retriever

It’s brilliant; a beautifully balanced comedy-drama that makes you laugh as much as it makes you cry, sometimes in the same scene.

Full Review Source: Sunday Times (Australia) | comment Comment
01/12/09
Shannon J. Harvey
Shannon J. Harvey
Sunday Times (Australia)

It’s brilliant; a beautifully balanced comedy-drama that makes you laugh as much as it makes you cry, sometimes in the same scene.

Full Review Source: Sunday Times (Australia) | comment Comment
01/12/09
Shannon J. Harvey
Shannon J. Harvey
Sunday Times (Australia)
 
 
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Latest News for The Black Balloon

December 09, 2008: Trailer & Poster review Opens in new window
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December 07, 2008: The Black Balloon wins big at the AFIs Opens in new window
Check out the frocks, shocks, trophies and tantrums at the AFI Awards. More...

July 01, 2008: Edinburgh 2008: What to Watch
We share twenty of the best films screened at the Edinburgh International Film Festival, currently running in the Scottish city. More...

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