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Flight of the Red Balloon

Name: Flight of the Red Balloon
Genre: Drama, Family
Released: April 4, 2008
Duration: 115 min
Rating: 86

2008

METASCORE

Universal acclaim based on 23 Critics

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USER SCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 48 Ratings

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5.7

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5.7	Your Score
5.7	User Score Mixed or average reviews based on 48 Ratings

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FLIGHT OF THE RED BALLOON

Movie Details & Credits

IFC Films | Release Date: April 4, 2008 | Not Rated

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 achinglyA 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

Director: Hsiao-hsien Hou

Genre(s): Drama, Family

Rating: Not Rated

Runtime: 115 min

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Awards & Rankings

7	#7 Best Movie of 2008

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Metascore

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Critic Reviews

100

Village Voice J. Hoberman

Flight of the Red Balloon is in a class by itself. In its unexpected rhythms and visual surprises, its structural innovations and experimental perfs, its creative misunderstandings and its outré syntheses, this is a movie of genius. Read full review

100

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

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. Read full review

100

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

A gem made by a filmmaker who loves life, and knows how to capture its ebb and flow and sweet complication. Read full review

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

A meditation on art, life, loneliness and the links between friends and strangers, the movie has a grace and humor that's wonderfully inviting. Read full review

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

Hou intends to celebrate the classic 1956 children's film "The Red Balloon," and he has done a beautiful job. In fact, he may well have created a future classic of his own. Read full review

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

Too much of this film is attenuated and vague, but it has moments of deep melancholy. Read full review

TV Guide Magazine Ken Fox

Not surprisingly, we're left with characters that feel only half sketched and fail to resonate on their own -- but onto which much can be read by Hou's most ardent fans -- in a poetic looking film that's ultimately as inflated and empty as the balloon itself. Read full review

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User Reviews

Oct 26, 2008

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 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