Martin Teller In CAFE LUMIERE, Hou paid tribute to Ozu. Here it's Lamorisse and his famous short film. I liked this more than any other Hou I've seen so far, which is odd because it seems to be considered one of his lesser films. Perhaps I only like Hou when he's not being so Hou. There was a lot to decode here, but I think one of the primary messages is the meeting of two cultures. The red balloon could be associated with the red prominent in Chinese culture, floating through and discovering Paris much in the same way as the director himself. The balloon seems to watch over and sympathize with the characters but doesn't ever connect. We have Juliette Binoche (in a very warm and relateable performance) practicing the art of Chinese puppet theater, and in her employ is Fang Song (another very likable performer), a Chinese nanny. These characters interact and even have moments of tenderness together, but they are detached, not quite involved in each other's lives. And then there are multitudes of instances being seen through windows, in reflections, through a camera, on a screen, via a child's toy. We are separated, but I see you and watch you with care. Outsiders looking in, doing what they can. I enjoyed my time with these characters and was engaged with their situations, understated though they might be. Lovely photography by one of my favorites, Mark Ping Bin Lee, and a gentle score. Makes me wonder what I've missed in Hou's other films.

film_ophile Oooooh. I am definitely not going to see any of this fellow's other films.What a huge nothing. The only thing that made part of this film worthwhile was the 2 scenes where Juliette Binoche is shown voicing the puppet shows. The variety and virility of her voices- were quite amazing. She really should be tapped for a whole series of Rabbit Ears type children's recordings. But other than watching her in those scenes and also throughout the film as an atypically tough bohemian- there was no reason to see this film. The balloon metaphor thing was completely inconsistent (proving that it meant nothing). The nanny's acting was just plain bad. There was no chemistry between anyone and no conduit for engagement with each other or the audience. Such a waste.Too many super films in the world; don't waste your time with this one.

Roland E. Zwick Hou Hsaio Hsien's "The Flight of the Red Balloon" is a tribute of sorts to 1956's "The Red Balloon," probably the most well known and widely seen short film of all time. That movie told the simple but lyrical tale of a young boy who is followed around the streets of Paris by a helium-filled balloon that seems to have a life and mind of its own. But if you go into this new film expecting anything close to a remake of the first one, you will be supremely disappointed."The Flight of the Red Balloon" is also set in Paris and it does feature a balloon and a boy - but that's about as far as the comparisons go between the two movies. What "The Flight of the Red Balloon" fails to capture is that special spirit of wonder, magic and imagination that has so enchanted "Red Balloon" aficionados for generations. Instead, we're stuck with a mind-numbingly tedious story involving a single mother (Juliette Binoche), her somewhat soporific son (Simon Iteanu), and a Chinese filmmaker (Fang Song) who serves as the boy's nanny and who wants to make a movie of her own modeled after "The Red Balloon." For long stretches of time, the title character doesn't even appear in the film, and you may find yourself wanting to holler "Bring on the balloon!" every time these self-absorbed characters launch into yet another of their eternal gabfests. In fact, when the balloon does make one of its infrequent appearances, all it does is hover around the edges of the scene to no discernible point or purpose. Too bad these nonstop blatherers didn't yield more of their screen time to the balloon.

gradyharp Somewhere the highly regarded Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-Hsien had the idea of paying homage to the 1956 classic Albert Lamorisse film THE RED BALLOON, a tender story of a child's interaction with a nearly animate floating balloon, and while there is indeed an short introduction of a small boy addressing an errant red balloon floating in Paris, the 'homage' stops there. What follows is an overly long, frustratingly impromptu series of scenes that lack cohesion and resolution. THE FLIGHT OF THE RED BALLOON (Le Voyage du balloon rouge) is a prolonged (113 minutes) series of scenes that stutter along with the same sort of wandering course of the occasionally visible red balloon to present moments in the life of a disheveled, frumpy, single mother Suzanne (Juliette Binoche) whose income depends on her fascination and obsession with Chinese marionette presentations for which she supplies the backstage voice for all of the characters. Her absent 'husband/boyfriend' has left her to write in Montreal while Suzanne must care for her young son Simon (Simon Iteanu) with the help of a newly hired Taiwanese photographer nanny Song (Fang Song) while her daughter resides in Brussels. This disheveled household is further complicated by the freeloading Marc (Hippolyte Girardot), the friend of her absentee 'husband', by Simon's piano lessons taught by Anna (Anna Sigalevitch), and by impossible conflicting schedules for marionette performances, partially relieved by Song's quiet ability to take Simon on adventures outside the confines of the cluttered little space they all call home. The only quieting element of this film is the occasional appearance of the 'guardian angel' red balloon, which seems to be a symbol for defining the real world of Simon and the illusory world he craves. The dialogue as written by Hou and François Margolin is choppy and the camera work and constant meandering piano music seem extemporaneous: there are few resolutions to the individual stories that are only hinted. Juliette Binoche is a solid actress able to make the most of a minimal script and horrendous costuming and makeup: her moments of being the voice of marionettes are magical. But this Red Balloon just doesn't take flight in the context of this homage. As with the rest of the film the balloon just floats off at the end. The viewer needs a lot of patience with this film! Grady Harp