Review of Flight of the Red Balloon (2007) by Scott W — 23 May 2008
This is my second Hsiao-hsien movie. I saw Cafe Lumiere and was not too impressed, although he was being pretty innovative about camera angles, pacing, and the use of silence shots.
Le Voyage is much brighter than Lumiere but its not about the narrative anyway. There is a story but I have heard that Hsia hsien works without a script in hand. Which means that he makes things up as he goes along, which is incredible.
The obsession with cameras, and recording devices is very obvious. Juliette Binoche's babysitter uses a hand held throughout- her character seems like Hsia hsien's alter ego.
The opening shot with the balloon is lyrical but then the camera lingering on the boy's face is a little too cutesy.
This review of Flight of the Red Balloon (2007) was written by Scott W on 23 May 2008.
Flight of the Red Balloon has generally received positive reviews.
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