Poetry New York

    “The Flight of the Red Balloon” (2007) shares very little physically in common with the original “The Red Balloon.” (1956) There is a red balloon, a city, and a little boy, but there is so much more on top of that in the new movie. While simplicity and lack of dialogue were a large part of the beauty of the original movie the new movie did rather well in staying true to the feeling of the original. The boy in the 2007 movie has much more depth. He is now the son of divorcees and lives with his mother. The mother is a puppeteer and, consequentially, very busy. She hires a babysitter to look after her son. The baby sitter is a film student and is very interested in the 1956 movie.
    The new film is beautifully done, but is lacking in plot. This lack of interesting plot created a sort of ‘life’ feeling in the movie. This is all meant to make a statement about what and how life is and in that way it becomes similar to the 1956 movie. “The Flight of the Red Balloon” is a much more plot-oriented movie than the original while still maintaining an art film feel. The addition of action beyond running around a city with a balloon gives the film a more tangible storyline and opens it up to a wider, and less bored, audience.