The Black Balloon was accepted into competition at this year’s Berlin Film Festival. A low budget production, it does not spare the viewer from imagining how any of us would cope with having a son on the cusp of manhood, who is autistic and has ADD. The film is a modest Australian drama that admirably achieves everything it sets out to do, affectionately lifting the lid on some significant suffering in the suburbs. It is raw in parts, but so is this slice of life, but this story ends up being about amazing grace. It deserves to do well.
Rated M: (moderate theme, moderate coarse language). Opens: March 6.
Fr Richard Leonard, Australian Catholic Office for Film and Broadcasting.