Review – The Black Balloon
June 2nd 2009 12:20
This film was released a little over a year ago and created a lot of interest both locally and overseas.
RELEASE DATE : 2007 (available now on DVD)
RUNNING TIME: 92 minutes
CAST:
Thomas – Rhys Wakefield
Jackie - Jemma Ward
Maggie - Toni Collette
Simon – Erik Thomson
Rex the bear
DIRECTOR: Elissa Down
WRITING CREDITS: Elissa Down, Jimmy the Exploder
DISTRIBUTOR: ICON Film Distribution
SYNOPSIS:
When Thomas and his family move to a new home and start at a new school, all he wants is to fit in. His pregnant mother has to take things easy and his father puts him in charge of his autistic brother Charlie.
Thomas with the help of his girlfriend Jackie faces his biggest challenge yet. Charlies unusual antics take Thomas on an emotional journey that causes his pent up frustrations about his brother to pour out – in a story that is funny confronting and ultimately heart warming.
REVIEW:
Developed from the directors own experiences growing up with two autistic brothers, writer/director Elissa Down with the help of Jimmy the Exploder (what?) has managed to explore this difficult subject with a wonderful balance between the difficulties faced in raising an autistic child and the humour that emerges, often unexpectedly during the day to day routine of the family.
Intentionally set in the early 1990’s not long before the time of mobiles, texting and the internet, this was a period when you had to actually deal with somebody face to face. No weak text to ask someone out or text to tell someone you didn’t want to see them anymore. In one extremely funny piece, Thomas without the use of a mobile phone to call for backup has to chase his half naked brother down the streets. Somehow he must catch him and get him home without his mother finding out. Stopping to use a mobile phone would have killed the moment.
The nineties was also a time where people still didn’t understand autism and other mental and physical difficulties. In today’s society, there is more assistance and help for those who may need it in supporting a disabled child or adult. Schools are set up to accommodate those with minor disabilities and special learning programmes are developed to assistance parents and carers. People are better educated on the issues today then they were twenty years ago thus the ignorance of Thomas’s school mates and eventual teasing and harassment of Charlie becomes more convincing. In today’s society this incident would have been filmed by probably more than one bystander and been uploaded onto the internet before lunch. Too many worms there.
The characters have well developed and a there is a definite authenticity to their lives. Erik Thomson’s portrayal of the father Simon explains to us the genetic connectin with Charlie. This disability is not something that just appears out of the blue and Erik makes this clear this to the audience without ever reaching or going over the top. You get the sense that Charlie is not just a character played by Luke Ford and you can easily forget the amount of effort that has gone into the research of not only his character, but the entire ensemble.
Much hype was given to Gemma Ward, a model heading into acting, but not the fact that she has been acting as long as she has been modelling. After appearing in the Elissa Downs 2001 short film ‘The Pink Pyjamas’, her modelling career soon took priority. Now returning to acting with this her first feature she has the potential to have a very successful career if the critics let her.
Previous films have dealt with the topic of dealing with a disability. Rain Man in 1987 and Shine in 1996 are two recent films that have dealt with mental health and Black Balloon uses humour and compassion in much the same way as these previous films to depict a small section of society that most people try to ignore. Some people deal with this ‘problem’ by ignoring it, others by making fun of it. Some people find the courage to deal with the issue at hand and refuse to shy away.
Black Balloon puts a mirror up to society. Although set 20 years in the past, the issues associated with mental disabilities such as autism have as much social significance today as they did then. Perhaps films like this will take us that one step further towards acceptance.
RANKING 7.5/10
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SimonC
