★ 7 / 10
A young lad is walking to school early
CinemaSerf
A young lad is walking to school early one morning when he espies a red balloon tied to a lamppost. He shimmies up the pole and claims it for himself, before…
A young lad is walking to school early one morning when he espies a red balloon tied to a lamppost. He shimmies up the pole and claims it for himself, before carrying on his journey amidst some local citizens - who really didn't look like they knew they were in the film. The balloon is almost as big as him, so getting it on the bus isn't allowed! No fear, he can run to school. His homeward journey sees him have some fun with those he meets in the rain along the streets of Paris before he gets it home, but his grandmother promptly releases it from the window. Maybe a sign of loyalty or fate, but it steadfastly refuses to abandon it's new owner, even when left to the elements. It's like a pet that follows and comes when called, they even play hide and seek, his schoolmates try to catch it, it even gets him into a bit of trouble with the church, it meets a blue balloon - it's even balloon-napped and they get separated which leads to an inevitable and quite sad conclusion. Or does it? It's really clever the way the balloon is manipulated - like it is remote controlled! There's also something engaging and joyous about the simplicity of this short feature. There's virtually no dialogue, a jolly and mischievous score that has something of the Disney to it, and the young Pascal Lamorisse really does charm with his performance as the easily pleased young man.
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★ 8 / 10
Gorgeous short movie filled with colorful images , lively score , glamorous cinematography and enjoyable fantasy
ma-cortes
Splendid short movie dealing with the fantasy world of children . A red balloon with a life of its own follows a little boy (Pascal Lamorisse , son of director…
Splendid short movie dealing with the fantasy world of children . A red balloon with a life of its own follows a little boy (Pascal Lamorisse , son of director Albert Lamorisse) around the streets of Paris . Balloon and young boy play together in the streets and slums of Paris and attempt to elude a band of boys that wants to explode the balloon . This timeless movie displays haunting and powerful scenes , it's plenty of frames which stay forever in the mind and there is almost no dialog spoken . The story is narrated with sensitivity and intelligence and is treated a simple adventure developed in great sense of ductility and fairness . In spite of runtime is short , this is a medium-length film, as the run is 35 minutes , it is entertaining , amusing and funny . The gentle humor developed in the film is clever and agreeable and dealing with fantastic as well as surrealist deeds . The plot is plain and simple though is only set in Parisian streets , it isn't dreary , neither boring but fun . Director tirelessly maintains the humorous ingenuity and including fantasy as when the balloon following the little boy around like a pet . Spectacular as well colorful finale when other balloons of various sizes and colors descend on the boy from all parts of Paris, and together they lift him into the sky and take him away over the horizon . Lively musical score is enjoyable and cheerful . The motion picture received awesome reviews and deserves the complete knowledge , acquiring an international reputation for its poetic quality ; receiving a grand prize at the Cannes Film Festival, and also winning an American Academy award. In fact , with its Oscar win for Best Original Screenplay, the film is the only short film to win an Academy award outside of the short film categories . The picture is nowadays considered to be an European cult film and it had one of the largest non-theatrical runs in the history of American cinema , as thousands of 16-millimeter prints were distributed to schools across the country. The motion picture was stunningly directed by Albert Mamorisse , he was born in Paris and was killed, at 58 , in a helicopter crash while shooting a documentary near Teheran . He was former photographer, he turned to directing short subjects in the late 40s, and 50s involving the childhood and fantastic events . His most successful movies were ¨Crin Blanc¨ (1953) also starred by his son Pascal Lamorisse and ¨The Red balloon¨ (1956) , the latter winning an Academy Award , as it won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, even though it has little dialogue . In the early 60s he turned to feature length films such as ¨Bim¨ and "Stowaway in the Sky" equally starred by his son Pascal , but with considerably less success, then retreated to documentary shorts . His last picture was ¨Le Vent Des Amoureux¨ (1978), a visually stunning helicopter tour of Iran, was later edited from his notes and was nominated for an Oscar as best feature documentary for the Academy award ceremonies of 1979.
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8.1/10
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It was part of my Film History class at university. So pleased to see it again. Merci Beaucoup!