Foster Care Victoria

The Black Balloon Review

Heart-felt, honest and genuine, the debut feature film from Elissa Down, is beautifully written, shot and performed.   

As with most debut films, this film was clearly a very personal exploration of Down’s own upbringing and early life which was demonstrated by her empathy and strength of story telling.

Toni Collette played a superbly as a mother coping with an autistic son through a beautiful sense of humour and optimism, humanising an often misunderstood and confronting condition. The mother’s character was admirable saying, that she thinks their family were given Charlie “because we are strong enough to cope.”

Still the film never glosses over the challenges, especially not the challenges of starting at a new school, in a new town with an autistic brother.

This is a coming of age film with a difference and succeeds uncovering layers of an often marginalised group of people and their families, by offering a human story to go beyond the stereotypes.

Although I’m usually a supporter of the rich, shared experience of going to a cinema, if you go to see The Black Balloon I suggest you take some spare tissues for your neighbours to minimise surround sniffles- this one is quite the tear-jerker.

You can watch the trailer, or post your own review in the comments.