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Movies / On DVD / The Flight of the Red Balloon
The Flight of the Red Balloon

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The Flight of the Red Balloon (2008)

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Reviews Counted:79

Fresh:63

Rotten:16

Average Rating:6.9/10

Consensus: Hou Hsiao-hsien's remake of the 1956 classic is unhurried, contemplative, and visually rapturous.

Rated: Not Rated

Runtime: 1 hr 55 mins

Genre: Foreign Films

Theatrical Release:Apr 4, 2008 Limited

Synopsis: In 1956, Albert Lamorisse made THE RED BALLOON, a short in which a young boy, played by his son, makes friends with a red balloon. Some 50 years later, Taiwanese auteur Hou Hsiao Hsien has made his... In 1956, Albert Lamorisse made THE RED BALLOON, a short in which a young boy, played by his son, makes friends with a red balloon. Some 50 years later, Taiwanese auteur Hou Hsiao Hsien has made his first French-language film, the charming and subtle FLIGHT OF THE RED BALLOON, commissioned by the Musée d'Orsay and inspired by Lamorisse's children's classic. A blonde Juliette Binoche stars as Suzanne, a single mother living in Paris, doing her best to raise her seven-year-old son, Simon (Simon Iteanu), while preparing her latest puppet show, based on the Yuan Dynasty story of Zhang Yu and his beloved, Qiong Lian. Suzanne hires Song (Song Fang), a Taiwanese film student, to come to Paris to take care of Simon. Song goes everywhere with her camera, filming everything she sees. Meanwhile, Simon is being followed by a red balloon that has grown attached to the boy. The balloon, which seems to have its own personality, hovers over the boy and his family as Suzanne struggles with her daily life, fighting with tenants who owe back rent, moving a piano, and getting ready for the puppet show. Hou, the director of such widely acclaimed films as THE PUPPETMASTER, FLOWERS OF SHANGHAI, and CAFE LUMIERE, has created a touching, beautiful film in FLIGHT OF THE RED BALLOON, which opened the 2007 Cannes Film Festival and was also selected for that year's New York Film Festival. Not only does the balloon serve as a character unto itself but so does the city of Paris as Song and Simon walk through the streets and ride the train. All the dialogue in the film is improvised, shot in long takes by cinematographer Mark Lee Ping Bing; Hou provided each of the actors with the general scenario and back story and then had them fill in the dialogue and movement themselves, adding a natural authenticity to the film. [More]

Starring: Juliette Binoche, Simon Iteanu, Hippolyte Girardot, Song Fang

Starring: Juliette Binoche, Simon Iteanu, Hippolyte Girardot, Song Fang, Louise Margolin

Director: Hou Hsaio-Hsien

Director: Hou Hsaio-Hsien
Screenwriter: Hou Hsaio-Hsien, Francois Margolin
Producer: Francois Margolin
Composer: Camille, Constance Lee
Studio: IFC Films

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Release:

Oct 21, 2008

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Reviews for The Flight of the Red Balloon

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1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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A visitor's beatific evocation

Full Review Source: CinePassion | comment Comment
08/26/09
Fernando F. Croce
Fernando F. Croce
CinePassion
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Boston Phoenix | comment Comment
04/23/09
Peter Keough
Peter Keough
Boston Phoenix

La Tour de Paris charmingly through the fresh eyes of a Chinese film student updating Lamorisse's beloved film while she babysits the son of the lovely, harried Binoche.

Full Review Source: Film-Forward.com | comment Comment
12/07/08
Nora Lee Mandel
Nora Lee Mandel
Film-Forward.com

While Hou's cinematic techniques are as sound as ever, this time it feels as if they're being used to peer into nothing of particular, specific significance.

Full Review Source: Window to the Movies | comment Comment
11/14/08
Jeffrey Chen
Jeffrey Chen
Window to the Movies

As if playing a serenely refined game, Hou transforms constraint into freedom -- which feels more to the point than any plotbound interpretation.

Full Review Source: Nation | comment Comment
10/18/08
Stuart Klawans
Stuart Klawans
Nation

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch | comment Comment
10/18/08
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

[A] sedate, ever-lovely looking film.

Full Review Source: Austin Chronicle | comment Comment
10/18/08
Kimberly Jones
Kimberly Jones
Austin Chronicle

Beautifully shot, but ultimately dull and plot-free drama that's both elusive and frustrating, despite a strong performance from Binoche.

Full Review Source: ViewLondon | comment Comment
10/18/08
Matthew Turner
Matthew Turner
ViewLondon

Binoche's energy, invention and concentration are phenomenal.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | comment Comment
10/18/08
Mick LaSalle
Mick LaSalle
San Francisco Chronicle
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The question is whether it really makes sense to turn Lamorisse's fanciful original film into a downer family drama; it's sort of like doing a modern-day version of "Narnia" where the kids never find the wardrobe.

Full Review Source: Capital Times (Madison, WI) | comment Comment
09/04/08
Rob Thomas
Rob Thomas
Capital Times (Madison, WI)

The movie is marvelously alert to whatever wonderment may appear within it. Which, for a patient, sympathetic audience, is much.

Full Review Source: Sacramento News & Review | comment Comment
08/07/08
Jonathan Kiefer
Jonathan Kiefer
Sacramento News & Review

A winsome homage to Albert Lamorisse's classic children's fantasy short film of 1956 The Red Balloon.

Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | comment Comment
08/02/08
Dennis Schwartz
Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

There’s no editing within a scene, no close-ups. No incidental music. Just life, or a pretty accurate simulation of life.

Full Review Source: Kansas City Star | comment Comment
07/11/08
Robert W. Butler
Robert W. Butler
Kansas City Star

Lamorisse's film was a third of this length, and was lighter than air. Hou's is about the weight of air itself on a muggy day, and whether that sustains over 113 minutes will be between each viewer and his attention span.

Full Review Source: Film.com | comment 1 Comment
06/23/08
Jonathan F. Richards
Jonathan F. Richards
Film.com
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The slow-moving Red Balloon really doesn't stack up favorably with its obvious inspiration, the delightful 1956 short fantasy The Red Balloon.

Full Review Source: Deseret News, Salt Lake City | comment Comment
06/12/08
Jeff Vice
Jeff Vice
Deseret News, Salt Lake City

In a film that feels so unstructured, these scenes reveal how much craft and structure actually go into Hou's films, how he endows his film with such meticulous layering of themes and ideas.

Full Review Source: KPBS.org | comment Comment
06/08/08
Beth Accomando
Beth Accomando
KPBS.org

Delicately handled and handsomely made.

Full Review Source: At the Movies (Australia) | comment Comment
06/07/08
David Stratton
David Stratton
At the Movies (Australia)

Even when [Hou is] working with simple ingredients, he brings along his masterful sense of space, timing, and everyday observation, which gives an actress like Binoche ample room to shine.

Full Review Source: Paste Magazine | comment Comment
06/03/08
Robert Davis
Robert Davis
Paste Magazine

I fear many viewers may lose patience. But those who stay to the end of this delicate and beautiful film will be amply rewarded.

Full Review Source: The Australian | comment Comment
05/30/08
Evan Williams
Evan Williams
The Australian

It’s all humdrum and low key without any redeeming compositional elegance or symmetry.

Full Review Source: FILMINK (Australia) | comment Comment
05/29/08
Mark Demetrius
Mark Demetrius
FILMINK (Australia)
 
 
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