The Black Balloon

An army family in Australia moves again. Sixteen-year-old Thomas wants to be invisible at his new school, but his autistic older brother Charlie is noticed everywhere and always. Their mother is pregnant again and the balance at home rests on Thomas. Elissa Down directed and wrote with Jimmy Jack. Rhys Wakefield plays Thomas, Luke Ford plays Charlie, Toni Collette the mother. Down has two autistic brothers and the film came straight out of her own childhood. Its honesty lies in shame: Thomas loves his brother and is embarrassed by him at the same time, and is ashamed of that in turn. The film never softens that loop. Charlie is not converted into a lovable figure; violence, faeces and public crises are all shown. It won a prize in the youth section in Berlin and was named the year's best film in Australia. Who it is for: viewers who want family drama and stories of a disabled sibling handled realistically. Who it is not for: anyone after a comfortable watch; some scenes are deliberately hard.