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Very disappointing...

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

THE BLACK BALLOON is an immediately real Australian film about Charlie, a boy-man with severe autism and ADD, and his family. Neither deliberately shocking nor sugar-coated, it expertly captures the life of the Mollison family. Very fine acting and dialogue, especially from Toni Collette as Charlie's mother. The focal character here is Thomas, Charlie's slightly younger brother, similarly well-played by Rhys Wakefield, and the film effectively captures the love-hate relationship between the "normal" and "abnormal" brothers. While it gives a rather dim view of adolescence in regards to Thomas's male classmates--not all high school boys are this cruel--it's still very revealing of the complications Thomas experiences in school and in his budding relationship with Jackie, another memorable character expertly played by Gemma Ward.Though it has something of an arc, the storyline is mostly episodic and slice-of-life. Plenty of interesting stuff happens, but I still sometimes wished for more of a beginning, middle, and end.THE BLACK BALLOON contains no really serious gore or violence (at least none where anyone is seriously hurt or killed); still, it pulls no punches in showing the baser aspects of severe autism (e.g., a scene of Charlie rubbing crap on himself). I also have to say--though there's nothing truly "wrong" about it--that the final scene irked me a little.

The Black Balloon, portrays the youth of Thomas Mollison (Rhys Wakefield) under the direction of Elissa Down. Inspired on the book, also written by the director of the movie being approached, it touches one point not as much exploited as expected. Thomas is 15 years old, and lives with his family. His older brother, Charlie (Luke Ford) is autistic and his mother (Toni Collette) is pregnant of the third child. The movie pictures how Thomas deals with is Charlie, now that his mother can't look after him and it's up to him and his father to handle things, while Thomas meets Jackie (Gemma Ward), who'd make him expose his brother. The movie is good, it's not over dramatic nor boring, but the situation between Thom and Jackie brings this movie to close to American Sunday afternoon crap, which is quite a pity. In spite of that, The Black Balloon gives you a whole new idea of how the modern times face the mental ill and what is they're place in our houses. Deep and good for meditation, and that's it, 6/10

This is an Australian movie, set in the early 1990s, and has that look. The writer used experiences from her own family, and two autistic brothers, to form the composite shown here.The main character is Rhys Wakefield, who was about 19, as Thomas Mollison turning 16. He is a quite normal boy, but his dad is in the Army so has moved around a lot. As the movie opens the family is moving into a new neighborhood.Thomas has the older brother who has severe disabilities resulting from autism plus ADD. He can only communicate with a form of elementary sign language, and has to be kept locked in his house when not on his special bus or in his special school. Luke Ford plays Charlie, very well and very convincingly. Toni Collette is the mom, Maggie Mollison, who also is pregnant and delivers a girl. Erik Thomson is the dad, Simon Mollison.New to acting is model Gemma Ward, about 20 during filming, who plays high school student Jackie Masters, pretty blond, and quite accepting of ambiguous situations. For example while walking home from school with Thomas and Charlie, Charlie digs in her backpack and ends up with a tampon in his mouth. Thomas has to chase and tackle Charlie to get the tampon away from him. Thomas was mortified, figured Jackie would surely ditch their budding romance but she only smiled and said, "At least it wasn't one that had been used." Her character was a good sport in a number of difficult situations.So the story is really about Thomas getting a grip on who he is and accepting his situation rather than hoping or wishing his brother was not like that.Good movie, drama and comedy mixed well.

Finally got to see this movie this week, and loved it, if that's the appropriate thing to say. I can appreciate that it would be hard watching for the family members of people with autism. For the rest of us, it's a well-needed window into their lives - created by a director with personal experience to draw on, so grounded in reality. From my knowledge of friends and a cousin with autistic children, the absolute unpredictability of autism, sitting in contrast with the autistic person's need for stability in their surroundings, does make for a challenging family life. I found the scenario unfolding in this movie credible and compelling, with the central role of Thomas, as portrayed by Rhys Wakefield (only otherwise seen by me in a local soap opera), a strong lead. You go through the roller-coaster of emotions with him, and can empathise with him as he faces the "ÿou're the spastic's brother" routine from his peers. For any country, it is good to hear your accent on film, and to see your streets. Especially when it's done this well.