Intentions of ‘The Black Balloon’ are all good, but it’ll wear you out
Published 6:33 pm Thursday, April 2, 2009
Poised somewhere between a typically Australian black comedy and a disease-of-the-week TV-movie, “The Black Balloon” sets itself a tough path to navigate.
How can director and co-writer Elissa Down tell the story of an Aussie family coping with an autistic teenage son, but avoid turning her project into a one-note issue picture?
In some ways she succeeds, because this movie certainly has plenty of quirk. Down herself grew up in a family with two autistic siblings, which is why the unflinching episodes she presents have the undeniable air of truth.
Our central character is Thomas (Rhys Wakefield), a 15-year-old whose life is dominated by his slightly older brother, Charlie (Luke Ford). Charlie, who only speaks in sign language, is autistic and has an attention-deficit disorder — which means he needs constant watching, a job that frequently falls to Thomas.
Their parents are two familiar Aussie types: a tough, beery, warm-hearted dad (Erik Thomson) and a plucky, hard-working mom (the perpetually excellent Toni Collette). Unexpectedly pregnant again, the mother needs to slow down for a while, meaning Thomas will have even more responsibility to mind Charlie.
Having just moved to a new town, Thomas is in no hurry to let his classmates know about his autistic brother. When he meets a pretty classmate (Gemma Ward), his embarrassment is intense.
However, she turns out to be a lot smarter than Thomas is when it comes to accepting Charlie’s unique status. Ward, a model, gives a nicely humorous, low-voiced performance in the role.
The film’s most challenging part is Charlie, ably embodied by Luke Ford, who obviously fears nothing. Ford, who played in the most recent “Mummy” movie last summer, is working in the vein that Leonardo DiCaprio so memorably tried in “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?”
There’s really one main problem with “The Black Balloon,” which is that for all its good intentions, it is an exhausting experience. Charlie is what he is, and he crashes through every sequence with exactly the same unintentionally disastrous consequences.
This might be a heartfelt and accurate portrayal. I’m not quite convinced it’s a movie.
