The Black Balloon: Critic Reviews

Toni Collette gives it the old Little Miss Sunshine try in The Black Balloon as an edge-of-kooky, very pregnant mama presiding over a chaotic household.

The blooming puppy love between Thomas and Jackie lends The Black Balloon a welcome strain of tenderness. Mr. Wakefield and Ms. Ward project the innocence of shy, sensitive young people for whom a tentative shared kiss is a very big deal.

Thomas and Jackie's friendship, blossoming into a chaste romance, is the dramatic engine that powers The Black Balloon, but it's far from the most important relationship in the film.

Structurally and cinematically, The Black Balloon sticks to the coming-of-age basics, but [director] Down has a gift for conveying time and place.

This auspicious Oz import is a sign of bright, young filmmaking in Australia.

The Black Balloon establishes this family with a delicate mixture of tenderness and pain.

At its sharpest Elissa Down's feature directorial debut is guided by intense, rough-edged emotional swings that feel authentically alive, even when the script settles for tidiness.

The Black Balloon, a splendid Australian film about a teenager and his older autistic brother, gets it, from the happy/sad imagery of the title through the uplifting, but not saccharine, finale.

Collette acts as an anchor for the ensemble, but the young leads credibly hold their own onscreen.

This small gem has a very satisfying ending.

Young love triumphs in a terrific Australian indie that deals with autism in an authentic, unsentimental way.

This unblinking family drama packs a visceral punch. Thomas' journey toward acceptance is blessedly free of noble lessons and filled with real people.

It's a well-meaning film, marked by Luke Ford's sensitive portrayal of a disabled character. But the main character is bland, imparting the same vibe on the rest of the film.

The Black Balloon is neither 'Rain Man' nor 'The Other Sister. This Aussie charmer charts its own course.

Wakefield anchors the well-paced quieter moments.

The film's vision is neither a grim wallow nor falsely cheerful. It's compassionate but unblinking, and in the end we can't help but admire the genuine strength of how its characters accept their special challenge.

The Black Balloon is marked by the fiercest bravery you're likely to encounter on screen this year.

A film that mostly skirts artifice and sentimentality for a truer portrait of a family battered and bruised but nowhere near broken.

The outlines are broad and obvious, and Thomas such a bore, that The Black Balloon loses air.

There are wrenching scenes that are brutally stark, yet there remains a steady sense of calm that is touching and sensitive without ever turning sentimental.

It sometimes skirts melodrama territory, but the deep emotions ultimately are real and gratifying. Dependable Toni Collette keeps it grounded, disappearing into her role as the incredibly patient mother.

Collette aside, there is no wow factor in The Black Balloon -- just a not-bad story told with better-than-average skill.

It's a film about a supposedly real-world set-up that never feels true, even though the people who made it clearly set out to treat their subject matter and the audience with respect.

It's a film that comes from the heart.

It's brilliant; a beautifully balanced comedy-drama that makes you laugh as much as it makes you cry, sometimes in the same scene.