Fifteen year old Thomas Mollison (Rhys Wakefield) moves to a new place with his parents (Toni Collette, Erik Thomson) and his autistic brother Charlie (Luke Ford). Thomas is awkward and embarrassed about his brother. Charlie runs into Jackie Masters (Gemma Ward)'s home to use the toilet while she's in the shower. Maggie's pregnancy gets difficult and she has to stay in the hospital. With their father away with the Army much of the time, Thomas becomes stuck taking care of Charlie. Jackie befriends Thomas and Charlie.Thomas is a whiny embarrassed teenager. That can be very off-putting. I can't blame the character but it keeps the movie from being a lovable coming-of-age story. It's a tougher more painful thing. It comes with poo and all. Gemma Ward injects a lightness to the movie. It does miss Toni Collette for long stretches. Her absence is keenly felt. The movie drags on a little too long after the climatic blowup but it's still a compelling family drama.

I've seen some dysfunctional families in my time, but Thomas REALLY has it rough. His mother is about to give birth and doesn't get off his case, his dad seems to take orders from a teddy called Rex, as well as being completely useless... and there's his brother Charlie. Who happens to be severely autistic. We're talking about constantly rocking back and forth, unable to communicate apart from with sign language, having random fits in public and rushing into total stranger's houses to use their bathroom facilities. To call him a 'handful' would be a gross understatement.Thomas wants out. He's fed up of doing everything around the house, his sibling embarrassing him in public and being bullied at school due to his 'situation'. Then, thanks in part to his brother's antics, he meets a lovely girl called Jackie, and things start looking up. Not only is she a beautiful, warm, compassionate human being, she can seemingly look past Charlie's bizarre behaviour and appreciate who he is. Even if he does steal tampons from her bag and suck on them...The key to the success of The Black Balloon is it really puts us in Thomas's shoes, and we suffer alongside him as he tries to make the best of a very stressful lifestyle. It's bad enough having to watch his brother 24/7, but when he starts acting up around people who don't understand his condition and they just look on with contempt, what can he do? He hates his brother due to the unwanted attention he attracts everywhere, and you can understand why he lashes out at Charlie several times. Only judge if you've worked a mile in their shoes, etc.The performances are out of this world, is Luke Ford (as Charlie) not disabled in real life? Every little detail, from the facial expressions, to the little tics he displays rings true. Note to Dustin Hoffman: THIS is someone with a serious handicap, not your card-counting, won't-go-on-plane has-difficulty-dancing social misfit from Rain Man. We dislike Charlie for the way he disrupts everyone's lives... but he can't help it, and he still shows enough during his quieter moments to demonstrate he can be very good-natured. Rhys Wakefield also effectively garners sympathy as the woe-be-gone Thomas, and Toni Collette as usual adds a touch of class as the mum of this chaotic brood.Filled with heartbreaking and inspirational moments, it's a treasure of a film... especially for those who have to live this way. If it teaches us anything, it's that should never give up on those you love. The more you put in, the more you'll get back in the long run... 8/10

This is an Australian movie, set in the early 1990s, and has that look. The writer used experiences from her own family, and two autistic brothers, to form the composite shown here.The main character is Rhys Wakefield, who was about 19, as Thomas Mollison turning 16. He is a quite normal boy, but his dad is in the Army so has moved around a lot. As the movie opens the family is moving into a new neighborhood.Thomas has the older brother who has severe disabilities resulting from autism plus ADD. He can only communicate with a form of elementary sign language, and has to be kept locked in his house when not on his special bus or in his special school. Luke Ford plays Charlie, very well and very convincingly. Toni Collette is the mom, Maggie Mollison, who also is pregnant and delivers a girl. Erik Thomson is the dad, Simon Mollison.New to acting is model Gemma Ward, about 20 during filming, who plays high school student Jackie Masters, pretty blond, and quite accepting of ambiguous situations. For example while walking home from school with Thomas and Charlie, Charlie digs in her backpack and ends up with a tampon in his mouth. Thomas has to chase and tackle Charlie to get the tampon away from him. Thomas was mortified, figured Jackie would surely ditch their budding romance but she only smiled and said, "At least it wasn't one that had been used." Her character was a good sport in a number of difficult situations.So the story is really about Thomas getting a grip on who he is and accepting his situation rather than hoping or wishing his brother was not like that.Good movie, drama and comedy mixed well.

This is one of the best films i have ever seen... I recommend it to anyone. Never before have I ever been put on such a roller-coaster of emotion from mind-blowingly intense scenes to scenes which make me feel sick. Scenes that make me laugh and scenes which make me want to punch something. Rhys Wakefield portrays an adolescent teen amazingly. Which I found surprising looking at some of the acting skills from his fellow Home and Away actors (see Xavier in H&A, WHY IS HE THERE???). I saw the trailer and am a big fan of Toni Collette so decided to rent the film and was interested to see Rhys play a central character. The quality of directing took my breath away and I congratulate anyone involved in the production. I bought it straight away after renting and have watched it at least 5 times all with different people to show them one of the best films EVER MADE.