Flight of the Red Balloon
Flight of the Red Balloon Image
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Metascore
86 out of 100

Universal acclaim - based on 23 Critics What's this?

User Score
5.7 out of 10

Mixed or average reviews- based on 46 Ratings

Your Score
0 out of 10
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  • Summary: A highlight at the 2007 Cannes, Toronto, and New York film festivals, Flight of the Red Balloon is the latest masterpiece from Hou Hsiao Hsien. Inspired by Albert Lamorisse's 1956 Academy Award-winning classic, Flight of the Red Balloon, Hou expands on that film's key elements--a young boy, a red balloon, and Paris--to weave an achingly beautiful tale about the mysteries of familial bonds and the lingering effects the past has on us all. Simon, a precocious young boy, must deal with the increasing fragility of his mother, the loving yet preoccupied Suzanne. Completely immersed in her own tribulations, Suzanne hires Song, a Taiwanese film student, to help care for Simon. Together with Song, a unique extended family is formed, utterly interdependent yet lost in separate thoughts and dreams mirrored by a delicate, shiny red balloon. (IFC First Take)… Expand

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 23 out of 23
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 23
  3. Negative: 0 out of 23
  1. Premiere
    Reviewed by: Glenn Kenny
    100
    This is not a children's picture, although it touches on the imaginative powers and emotional resilience of children. It's another slice of Hou's distinctly poetic realism, and as such, also a kind of tribute to Paris -- the Paris of both today and of the older film.
  2. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Michael Phillips
    100
    A gem made by a filmmaker who loves life, and knows how to capture its ebb and flow and sweet complication.
  3. Seattle Post-Intelligencer
    Reviewed by: Sean Axmaker
    100
    Hou's first film made outside of Asia is his most emotionally turbulent, yet he remains, like the balloon, outside looking in, a compassionate but distant observer capturing it all with a graceful restraint and floating beauty that ultimately carried me away with it.
  4. Variety
    Reviewed by: Justin Chang
    80
    This eloquent study of loneliness and postmodern drift likely will be received with more admiration than rapture by the helmer's followers. But Juliette Binoche's turn as a harried single mom and pic's enlivening portrait of domestic rupture make this a highly accessible Hou.

See all 23 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 21
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 21
  3. Negative: 8 out of 21
  1. RG
    10
    This is one of the most beautiful films of this year - the juxtaposition of the balloon on hovering over Paris with the the scenes of an extended family (suzanne, simon and song) floating through the cluttered Parisian apartment space is feast of casual beauty. Hou's approach lies in the simplicity of form - colors and framing and belief in his actors and image. there is plenty of real life drama here but nothing that is in your face (no close ups). hou's is def one the best directors out there in complete control of his images and sounds.… Expand
  2. Sam
    5
    I haven't seen the film, but some of the complaints on here are ridiculous. not every movie needs plot, character development and dialouge. there are other subtle, deeper purposes for the movie to exist, and they don't need to explained through plot, characters, and dialouge.… Expand
  3. AndrewT
    4
    As a movie a 3, as a work of art hung on a wall, 9. I can see the point and the perspective, but is the memory at issue worth the canvas?
  4. bda
    4
    I know this shows that I'm geeky, literal-minded and impatient, but after watching it I went back and noted that the first bit of balloon footage ended at the 7-minute mark and then didn't reappear until the 57-minute mark. Wasn't this supposed to be about a balloon following a kid around Paris?… Expand

See all 21 User Reviews

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