denis888 ...and I watch quite many movies, I tell you. So, did anyone understand what this absolutely awful movie was about? Because I didn't. It was luck that I didn't watch this awful abomination in the theater, so I had a DVD at home and thus possessed this ultra necessary ability to skip or turn it off straightaway. This is a true, thick, loud abomination of a film which screams for one outcome - to be deemed worst. Australian filmmakers can do fine films but in this case they failed at all possible levels - the plot was murky and downright dull, the performance was so poor you had to rub your eyes, the cringe-worthy scenes came in so often that I nearly vomited and I am not that easy to be driven to throwing up. Autism? A serious study of a case? Nay, in fact what we saw was a sick unbearable array of horrid uneasy moments that were simply not to be shot at all. Gemma Ward. Yes, she is awesome lady - long legs, great body, sweet smile, elfish face. This is all, kids. You can go to bed, as she offered nothing except hew looks but looks never save the weak plot. She is simply weak and not convincing in any way. The rest? Just skip it - the movie seemed to slide along a surface never getting any deeper or decent. The verdict - cringe-worthy array of sick moments, shallow plot and terrible film. Zero is the only rating for this piece of utter trash.

immortalorchid1990 The Black Balloon tells a story of teenager's (Rhys Wakefield) life with his autistic brother, Charlie (Luke Ford). While his pregnant mother (Toni Collette) is on bed rest for some part of the movie and father (Erik Thomson) working, Thomas goes through some brother-to-brother challenges when taking care of him. He develops his first crush (Gemma Ward) who seems like she is more accepting to his brother's condition than he is.Director, Elissa Down, made this film wonderfully – adding a touch of truth and love behind the hardship of raising an autistic member in the family. I am very impressed on the actors of the film as I thought they did an outstanding job on their performances. Even though this is Rhys first film to appear as the main character, he made his acting believable and emotional throughout the whole film and same as the rest of the cast.As a result of watching The Black Balloon, I give this movie 10/10 for best acting and great storyline!

tarunverma911 Being a clinical psychologist myself, I have to work with autistic children. And being a movie freak, I once decided to download as many movies as possible depicting mental illnesses. When looking for autism I happened to find some very brilliant ones, like Ben-X and this movie.So far I have found Black Balloon to be one of the best ones in which autism has been displayed as accurately as possible. Acting by Luke Ford (Charlie in the movie) as the autistic child is brilliant, never losing the actual flavor of autism. Reality is shown at its core and the unfolding of the character of Charlie's brother, Thomas has again been displayed brilliantly. The film never bores you and the intensity of relations that emerge in last few minutes thrill you in several ways. The way the character of Thomas has developed might not just be confined to such specific relationships. When interacting with such children, and especially when there is such a child in the family, such realizations are bound to happen to anyone involved.Surprisingly for therapists too. As a therapist too, one may expect a lot from such children to improve in therapy but the reality is not always fair. Anyone working with such children may get frustrated and exhausted by the repetitive failures and disappointments, but it should be kept in mind that success need not be quantitative, rather qualitative. A simple and minor change in behavior is enough to be considered of significance. Acceptance of the real condition of such children is the key to work successfully with them.

markymcmarkson This is one of the best films i have ever seen... I recommend it to anyone. Never before have I ever been put on such a roller-coaster of emotion from mind-blowingly intense scenes to scenes which make me feel sick. Scenes that make me laugh and scenes which make me want to punch something. Rhys Wakefield portrays an adolescent teen amazingly. Which I found surprising looking at some of the acting skills from his fellow Home and Away actors (see Xavier in H&A, WHY IS HE THERE???). I saw the trailer and am a big fan of Toni Collette so decided to rent the film and was interested to see Rhys play a central character. The quality of directing took my breath away and I congratulate anyone involved in the production. I bought it straight away after renting and have watched it at least 5 times all with different people to show them one of the best films EVER MADE.