The Black Balloon.

"Produced for what was likely a day's Botox budget on Baz Luhrmann's Australia, the auspicious Oz import The Black Balloon - the debut feature of director Elissa Down - comes on like a Rain Man for the High School Musical set, but quickly establishes itself as that rare 'disease movie' in which the disorder in question is mined neither for mawkish sentimentality nor ersatz inspirationalism," writes Scott Foundas in the Voice.

"Down's semi-autobiographical film always manages to counter its indie clichés with a sober sense of the volatility that comes from living with an autistic individual," writes Nick Schager in Slant.

Toni Collette's "Maggie is the film's prime mover," writes Stephen Holden in the New York Times. "This wonderful Australian actress, who hasn't a shred of vanity, virtually disappears into the complicated characters she plays, and Maggie is one of the strongest. With every forceful gesture and glaring look, Ms Collette portrays Maggie as an indefatigable woman of heart and sinew who, through sheer determination, holds off chaos."

For Filmmaker, Nick Dawson talks with Down "about drawing on her own childhood, her puzzlement at the lack of menstrual comedies, and her vivid memories of singing Michael Penn songs in her sleep."

Posted by dwhudson at December 5, 2008 7:57 AM