Something Cult, Foreign-Language or Indie #48: The Black Balloon (2008).

Thomas Mollison (Rhys Wakefield) is 15 and the new kid at school. He's just moved town with his heavily pregnant mother Maggie (Toni Collette), military man father Simon (Erik Thomson) and severely autistic older brother Charlie (a show-stealing Luke Ford). Thomas soon meets local sweetheart Jackie (Gemma Ward) and is automatically smitten, but Charlie's unpredictable antics repeatedly hamper Thomas' efforts to connect with Jackie, and Thomas also finds Charlie embarrassing at school, where naturally he subsequently attracts bullies. After one particularly troubling incident with Charlie, Thomas, with Jackie's and his parents' help, must find a way of firstly venting his frustration and sadness, then more importantly overcoming his shame and managing to understand and connect with his eccentric brother, who's always wanted to help but doesn't know how to.

It's hard for me to say what the best (per se) cinematic depiction of autism is, but The Black Balloon is certainly the most realistic I have yet seen. Based on her own experiences growing up with two autistic brothers, director Elissa Down's treatment of this very hard topic is utterly sincere and accurate but nonetheless fully objective (as I hope this review is; I'm on the spectrum myself). The scenes with the Mollisons interacting are handled very calmly and evenly, keeping it an ensemble piece so we can sympathise with every character, and she intersperses these with more intimate moments between Thomas and Jackie which are more overtly visual but never jarring. Her direction overall is so assured, and her screenplay (with Jimmy the Exploder) also offers numerous good-natured laughs involving the whole ensemble.

But the real meat in this sandwich must be the sensational performances. Wakefield makes a very authentic young hero as he lets Thomas' emotions slowly seep out until they come to a head, making it all the more moving, Ward strikes the right balance between devotion and assertion as his romantic voice of reason, Collette gives one of her best performances and Thomson (best known to Aussie audiences for his work in TV) is equally strong as the ocker/disciplinarian dad. But as I said, Luke Ford really is the best part of The Black Balloon, and in the role that would have made or broken it. He spent several months at an autism centre to prepare for it, and reportedly knew he had the role down when he went around downtown Sydney in character and people mocked him (as sad as what that suggests is). His every mannerism and nuance, from the mangled speech to limb movements and the so-called “signing” Charlie does with his hands to communicate, is just flawless. This really enhances an especially powerful scene featuring a cover of Crowded House's Fall at Your Feet (the movie is set in the '90s), and another in a supermarket. Ford also has a suitable height and build for autistic character. He will blow you away.

The Black Balloon deservedly won six 2008 Australian Film Institute Awards including Best Film. It's poetic, compassionate, emotional, funny and again, very realistic. But not for a second do you have to have an autistic relative for it to affect you. Family is family, after all.