le voyage du ballon rouge...

...a.k.a. "flight of the red balloon." 

there are some movies that make you think, some that make you laugh or cry and even some that make you angry..this film made me cock my head to the left and observe for two hours. that's a good thing in my book. this film was in homage to albert lamorisse's children's classic film from 1956, "the red balloon," about a little boy and a red balloon. do you remember it? i have a faded memory of watching it in school and being entranced by the sight of the luscious red balloon making it's way across paris. 

hou hsiao-hsien's filmmaking is at once simple and grand. his camera pans around paris as if we are the red balloon, floating around the characters and looking in on their everyday lives. the script was largely improvised which was refreshing since the actors were in theory playing a part of themselves. juliette binoche played a discomposed, yet endearing mother so incredibly well and the part of her son, simon, was given to the coolest looking french six year-old in paris. (seriously...what is it about the french? they are just born cool.) song fang, the chinese nanny, held such grace that watching her do something mundane, like preparing a snack for simon, was like watching a dancer in a ballet.

the music throughout the film was more of a backdrop..you heard it if you wanted to. but then the song at the very end of the film commanded your attention..(i've been trying to find out who it is by, but i can't seem to find that info!) 

hou's "le voyage du ballon rouge" is his first foray into filming outside of asia, but i am quite sure it will not be his last.