Waiting For
Added 10/25/2009
Yesterday evening this film came on the television, late.
Somehow it brought the feeling of "day" into my evening spaces and lightened fatigue, caught me with the French, and I watched.
I loved "The Red Balloon" and used to show it to students in 1st grade, my daughter in kinder saw it- and always stated it terrified her. So there was enough just in that to make me interested in an homage.
For the most part you follow a beautiful child, into his day,he's very independent, learning of his new child care taker, seeing his small apartment, the life of his mother. She voices puppets. His Maman is so beautiful, sensual, high strung a bit, struggling. His father it appears eventually has left her and she has someone living in the apartment down stairs from something he allowed-not paying- that she's got to deal with and apparently evict. And that's causing her to struggle. She's in her own world-has her share of pain, the child has his, the care taker serves as an observer. It's a kind of movie moving like the balloon did in the other -through their existence. You know what I always recall of the Red Balloon? The teasing playfulness, how it would come in and take you, float you, so I think the child in this movie, the characters, tend to come in and rather float you. It moves through music, it made me wistful this score. There wasn't the humor though, and I noticed that.
I doubt I'm capable of revealing this movie. There are very long shots of the characters just living, mostly in an apartment but escaping at times to the street, the actress Binoche reminded me of a friend Norma and her relationship as I knew it with her two children. Almost entirely I felt an observer of their life-as this is-noticing as I did here-being engaged. There was such similarity it felt like spending time in their lives once more. The apartment space was cluttered, the life was revealed, the love- mother to child was there, she felt a bit alone, her son seemed to pull her into reality. Her puppet work was so odd to me. I couldn't watch that easily-really high pitched, dramatic, histrionic almost stuff. Like Punch and Judy, older, an art outside my understanding. The child Simon was brilliant, in all his interactions he was just charming, real. He came for me from the movie this saluted.
What happens. Life. A little bit. This new care taker for Simon is entering their life, as you are, it serves to bridge that. As she looks, rather free of judgment, saying at one point she is new here- so too we are looking. Discovering the love of child and mom, the things that feel painful, the sister lives away, you gain brief insights into the felt loss of her presence, sadness over the father-noting not the best behavior in the mom all the time-but nothing so awful either.
So yes, it does have a red balloon, I cannot conclude entirely what I make of the meanings.
I'm not sure the movie would work for some I know, some even that I know love the Red Balloon, for children even.
But I enjoyed the movie and it held me to its floating away.
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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Boresville
Added 4/2/2009
This is not a remake of the original 1954 french classic. This is an arthouse inspired borefest that I truely wanted to love. Julie B is fantastic in everyfilm i have seen her in. She cannot even save this drawl of a film. This film is more like a day in a life drama with no real conflict that pulls you in. The director utilizes unnecessary long takes that build up to nothing. The red balloon itself is merely a metaphor and appears only in the first scene in the film and with sprinkles of appearances in the body of the film and in the films odd and depressing conclusion. Waste of time. Stay away and buy the digital remaster of The Red Balloon.
1 out of 6 people found this helpful.
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A Balloon's P.O.V
Added 2/1/2009
And the award for best inanimate object in a supporting role goes to? Flight of the Red Balloon is a beautifully shot film from the biased p.o.v of a balloon, as the camera angelically floats to an equally beautiful score. Not as subtle as Goddard or Truffaut, the film literally shows its self reflexive style honoring Lamorisse's The Red Balloon.
There is something about outsiders that viewers find relatable for example, Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver. Oddly enough I found myself relating more to a balloon in the first few minutes then most characters in commercialized ready for your consumption films filled usually with more hot air.
1 out of 2 people found this helpful.
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Where's a good-sized pin when you need one?
Added 1/26/2009
*1/2
Hou Hsaio Hsien's "The Flight of the Red Balloon" is a tribute of sorts to 1956's "The Red Balloon," probably the most well known and widely seen short film of all time. That movie told the simple but lyrical tale of a young boy who is followed around the streets of Paris by a helium-filled balloon that seems to have a life and mind of its own. But if you go into this new film expecting anything close to a remake of the first one, you will be supremely disappointed.
"The Flight of the Red Balloon" is also set in Paris and it DOES feature a balloon and a boy - but that's about as far as the comparisons go between the two movies. What "The Flight of the Red Balloon" fails to capture is that special spirit of wonder, magic and imagination that has so enchanted "Red Balloon" aficionados for generations. Instead, we're stuck with a mind-numbingly tedious story involving a single mother (Juliette Binoche), her somewhat soporific son (Simon Iteanu), and a Chinese filmmaker (Fang Song) who serves as the boy's nanny and who wants to make a movie of her own modeled after "The Red Balloon." For long stretches of time, the title character doesn't even appear in the film, and you may find yourself wanting to holler "Bring on the balloon!" everytime these self-absorbed characters launch into yet another of their eternal gabfests. In fact, when the balloon does make one of its infrequent appearances, all it does is hover around the edges of the scene to no discernible point or purpose.
Too bad these nonstop blatherers didn't yield more of their screen time to the balloon.
2 out of 8 people found this helpful.
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Engaging, Subtle Film - Time Well Spent
Added 12/18/2008
Oh did I ever enjoy this film. It was a wonderful slow time with several characters that I thoroughly enjoyed. I write slow on purpose, to set the viewer's expectations. This film moves along at a rythm that is very particular, very deliberate, and, to me and my family, perfect. There is a subtlty here that either draws you in deeply, or pushes you far away. I can't see a middle ground with The Flight Of The Red Balloon.
Two adults, a 12 and 17 year old agree that this is a wonderful engrossing film.
The most important point about Flight is the film production. I'm certain most reviewers have missed the fact that cut to cut time averages well over 3 minutes, maybe more like 5 to 10. The shots are very long, and a lot of character development and story progress happens in each long take. Compare that to the average film shots are rarely more than 10 seconds, and long is 20 seconds. Anyone that has seen this film once, should watch the film again and pay attention to when cuts are made in the film. It's incredible the choreography that had to take place for this to work.
I felt like this was two hours spent with some wonderful people, a boy, his mother, a nanny, a neighbor, and a host of minor characters. People float in and out of this movie just as they do in real life. The story isn't resolved, just like in real life. But the path these characters follow is interesting and pleasing.
The connection with the fabulous movie Red Balloon, it's a bit tenuous. There's homage in here, that's critical to understand. It's homage in the film sense, a director does things in a similar way or uses cues that make us think of the other film. The single most important homage to me, shot length and rythm of the original Red Balloon. The director used this aspect to perfection. It's NOT a continuation or retelling. Anyone searching for that will be sadly very dissappointed with this film. The Red Balloon (Released by Janus Films, in association with the Criterion Collection)
The director did a lot with reflected images in glass. Early on it's very hard to tell if we are looking at the person directly, or a reflection. As the camera pulls back or a person moves, we discover it was a reflection all along. Another significant point is when we start to see a character seeing themselves reflected (a two shot with the reflection being the second image). The two shot doesn't appear until much later in the film - when we start to see more of the red balloon.
Juliette Binoche, Song, and the young boy are fabulous actors. They have an incredible charm that I enjoyed very much.
Whatever this film is rated is probably wrong - this is a PG film, sutiable for any audience. Because it's subtitled (and there is no English track), a child would need to read well to watch the film.
The DVD has no bonus features of any kind. It is simply the movie with original French soundtrack, and English / Spanish subtitles.
By the way, the quality of the subtitles / translation is really awful. There are a lot of nuiances in the French that the subtitle company missed badly.
There is another way to watch this film, there are some gorgeous images of Paris streets. The light is beautiful. The scenes outdoor scenes are wonderful. Anyone that loves Paris, will likely love this film.
If you appreciate character development, discovery, subtlty in a film, and real live rythm, you will enjoy this film. It is also worth watching several times. As another reviewer and I have pointed out, there is a lot going on in this film. And it's impossible to understand it all in one single viewing.
9 out of 9 people found this helpful.
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