It references the classic 1956 French short The Red Balloon directed by Albert Lamorisse. "Festival de Cannes: Le voyage du ballon rouge", "Le Voyage du Ballon Rouge (The Flight of the Red Balloon) (2007)", http://www.villagevoice.com/2008-04-01/film/floating-life/, "BFI | Sight & Sound | Flight of the Red Balloon (2006)", "Le Voyage du Ballon Rouge (The Flight of the Red Balloon) - Movie Reviews - Rotten Tomatoes", "Metacritic: 2008 Film Critic Top Ten Lists", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Flight_of_the_Red_Balloon&oldid=986605740, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 1 November 2020, at 22:05. The film was shot in August and September 2006 on location in Paris. Simon's father has been away as a writer in residence at a Montreal university for longer than he planned. Flight of the Red Balloon is explicitly an outsider’s movie, full of odd perspectives and founded on dislocation. Flight of the Red Balloon; Flight of the Red Balloon. In Paris, Chinese cinema student Song Fang is hired to work as the nanny of Simon by his divorced mother Suzanne, who works voicing marionettes in a theater. Simon is dealing with the increased fragility of his loving yet preoccupied mother, Suzanne. The Red Balloon (French: Le ballon rouge) is a 1956 French fantasy comedy-drama featurette written, produced, and directed by Albert Lamorisse. Juliette Binoche: The Art of Being - Official Fansite. Suzanne hugs Simon as if to draw comfort from his love and his serenity.Hou has a wonderfully light touch. A man and woman visit the town to locate their estranged spouses, and become witness to the societal changes. Honored with opening night of the Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes Film Festival and a hit at the New York, Toronto and AFI fests, THE FLIGHT OF THE RED BALLOON is simply one of the most acclaimed films of 2008. This is Hou's first non-Asian film. It's about a frazzled lady named Suzanne (Juliette Binoche) with over-bleached, unruly hair. [3] Kate Stables of Sight & Sound also highly praised the film, "Finding a serene and contemplative beauty in the quotidian world has long been Taiwanese master-minimalist Hou Hsiao Hsien's stock in trade... Hou brings the same depth and deliberation to the film's Parisian exterior... ultimately, it is cinema that is the film's sacred repository of memory and creativity. The first part in a new series of films produced by Musée d'Orsay, 'Flight of the Red Balloon' tells the story of a French family as seen through the eyes of a Chinese student. Honored with opening night of the Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes Film Festival and a hit at the New York, Toronto and AFI fests, THE FLIGHT OF THE RED BALLOON is simply one of the most … Her life is a little like her coiffureshe can't quite seem to control it. Abandoned by his father, a young boy is left in a state-run youth farm. Simon and his classmates are gathered before the Felix Vallotton painting “The Balloon” (yes, it’s red) and their teacher asks whether they think it is a happy painting or a sad painting. A little boy and his baby-sitter inhabit the same imaginary world: through their adventures they are followed by a strange red balloon. Written by A young boy sneaks onto his grandfather's hot air balloon and together they travel over France. As the film begins, she picks up Song (Song Fang), a Taiwanese girl studying film-making, fluent in French, who is going to be a "child minder" for Simon. 57 of 69 people found this review helpful. That tenant downstairs has become a real annoyance. When a Taiwanese film student, Song, is hired to help care for Simon, a unique extended family is formed. Clever Hou, who is clearly a master of seizing the moment, can make you feel as much at home in Paris as any French director. Suzanne calls in Song to act as interpreter for the puppet master during his visit, and also asks her to transfer some old family films to disk. This is Hou's first non-Asian film. Katrina Onstad is the film columnist for CBCNews.ca. 5.0 out of 5 stars The Best. Flight of the Red Balloon Dir. Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? While Simon's older sister Louise is about to graduate from a high school in Brussels, Suzanne plans for Louise to apply for colleges in Paris. Helmer Hou does a sound job marshalling his tiny cast with Juliette Binoche effective as the put upon Suzanne. Let's not forget that red is the luckiest color in Chinee culture.You could say that nothing really happens in Hou's red balloon story. Simon is dealing with the increased fragility of his loving yet preoccupied mother, Suzanne. From Gopnik Hou learned about how old Parisian cafes still have pinball machines ('flippers', the French call them). Add the first question. "The imagery of the classic movie, where a spirited red balloon wafts unpredictably over Paris, never even attempts to reach a metaphorical height, nor does it even engage us compositionally. Read more. Occasionally perhaps here the absence of emotional conflicts or suspense leads to momentary longeurs, but one's still left feeling satisfied. More of a tribute to than a remake of the classic 1956 French film The Red Balloon, Hou's version focuses less on the ever-presence of the flying balloon and more on the keenly observant eyes of … You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. As such, “Flight of the Red balloon is less a linear story and more a tonal poem of the tiny family’s life. Premiere Glenn Kenny. Rotten Tomatoes reported that 81% of 91 sampled critics and 85% of top critics gave the film positive reviews, with an average rating of 6.9 out of 10. T he unobtrusive mastery of Hou Hsiao Hsien, with … Suzanne's work is unusual. CBC's Journalistic Standards and Practices | About CBC News In a random act of kindness, the town hair-dresser agrees to foster him on week-ends. He says that once he had Simon's school and Suzanne's apartment, the film was safely under way. Suzanne, a puppeteer, lives with her young son Simon in an apartment in Paris. Two brothers and a sister witness the disappearance of their childhood memories when they must relinquish the family belongings to ensure their deceased mother's succession. Synopsis; Trailers; Posters; Photos; Cast; Reviews ; 133 votes and 2 Reviews | Write a Review. It is the first part in a new series of films produced by Musée d'Orsay, and tells the story of a French family as seen through the eyes of a Chinese student. They did, quite convincingly.Hou's life has been full of puppets from childhood, and he made a film about a puppet master. But Song and Simon are calm souls, and they hit it off from the start. Like other auteur-artist filmmakers, he requires patience of his audience. This FAQ is empty. Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends. ©Chris Knipp 2007. Thu 13 Mar 2008 20.19 EDT. This time he incorporates a classic Chinese puppet story about a very determined hero: he meant it to describe Suzanne, who creates a new version of it. Flight of the Red Balloon (French: Le voyage du ballon rouge) is a 2007 French-Taiwanese film directed by Hou Hsiao-hsien. The red balloon that appears throughout the movie becomes a metaphor for a… Search for "Le voyage du ballon rouge" on Amazon.com, Title: But nothing in particular has to happen, because he stages his scenes with such grace and specificity that it's a pleasure to watch them unfold; a lesson in life lived for its zen here-and-now-ness. “It’s both,” one of the kids answers, and that’s true of “The Flight of the Red Balloon” too. Use the HTML below. It's in the nature of good film acting that Binoche's character, though sketched in only with a few brief scenes, seems quite three-dimensional. Simon visits the Musée d'Orsay on a school trip, where his class is shown The Ball, a painting by Félix Vallotton in which a child chases a red ball. She has a seven-year-old boy named Simon (Simon Iteanu), with a fine profile and a big mop of hair, and an annoying downstairs lodger (Hipolyte Girardot), a friend of her absent boyfriend, who, it emerges, hasn't paid his rent in a year. A wife and mother begins a downward emotional spiral, as her husband avoids their collapsing marriage by immersing himself in his 11 year-old daughter's quest to become a spelling bee champion. A town in Fengjie county is gradually being demolished and flooded to make way for the Three Gorges Dam. A young boy enlists the help of a balloon seller to send birthday wishes to his Mom, in the only way he knows how, in this simple story of loss and longing. Hou's homage to Albert Lamorisse's 1956 film “The Red Balloon” does have a red balloon, a little boy, and Paris, but Simon (Iteanu) doesn't wander the streets accompanied by the balloon so much as he wanders with his new nanny Song (Fang), a Taiwanese film student who serves as Hou's calm observer. The Red Balloon (1957) Not Rated | Short, Comedy, Drama, Family, Fantasy Hou Hsiao-hsien, France, IFC Albert Lamorisse’s red balloon is still perfectly, lollipop round in Hou Hsiao-hsien’s Flight of the Red Balloon, a tribute to (and glorious expansion of) that 1956 children’s classic. Synopsis The first part in a new series of films produced by Musée d’Orsay, ‘Flight of the Red Balloon’ tells the story of a French family as seen through the eyes of a Chinese student. [2], J. Hoberman, writing in The Village Voice was particularly appreciative of the film stating, "Flight of the Red Balloon is contemplative but never static, and punctuated by passages of pure cinema". 2 people found this helpful. Discover something for everyone this month with some choice picks for the best movies and TV to stream in April. When a Taiwanese film student, Song, is hired to help care for Simon, a unique extended family is formed. Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 26, 2018. He also brings in a visiting Chinese puppet master. 2 people found this helpful. Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Taiwanese master Hou Hsiao Hsien just made a film in Japan, 'Café Lumiere.' I enjoyed Flight of the Red Balloon but the main reason I bought the two should be clear by now! The two become completely dependent on each other, yet both are lost in separate dreams mirrored by a delicate, shiny red balloon. Other articles where Flight of the Red Balloon is discussed: Hou Hsiao-hsien: …Voyage du ballon rouge (Flight of the Red Balloon). A 7 year old boy and a red balloon is a beautiful movie which I have viewed several times. Song also starts shooting a little film of Simon with a red balloon.Hou admits he didn't know a lot about Paris. This is a kind of homage to and riff on it. This is Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s first Western film. Read more. Flight of the Red Balloon (Cert PG) Peter Bradshaw @PeterBradshaw1. Math, spelling, flipper, wandering Paris with Song, catching the rings at the Jardin du Luxembourg, taking his piano lessons: the world according to Simon is full and good. For that, she tries to evict her downstairs tenant Marc, who has repeatedly failed to pay his rent, while arguing on the phone with Pierre, Simon's father, who has gone off to Canada for two years to write a novel and who is rarely in touch. NK Petraki. A precious young boy, Simon (Simon Iteanu) must deal with the increasing fragility of his mother, the loving yet preoccupied Suzanne (Academy Award Winner Juliette Binoche of THE ENGLISH PATIENT, CACHÉ). Opens Friday (May 16). I enjoyed Flight of the Red Balloon but the main reason I bought the two should be clear by now! In the Camargue, France, a young boy bonds with a white haired horse that escaped from ranchers. He also learned that the merry-go-round in the Jardin du Luxembourg has little rings the children catch on sticks as they ride around (like knights in the days of jousting). "[5], The film appeared on several critics' top ten lists of the best films of 2008.[6]. Flight of the Red Balloon opens in Toronto on May 16, with other cities to follow. A delicate, shiny Red Balloon, yet both are lost in separate dreams mirrored by delicate... 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