Flight of the Red Balloon

"This delicate, snail-paced slice of Parisian life is part remake, part-homage to Albert Lamorisse’s 1956 film The Red Balloon, in a which a boy is followed around the streets of the French capital by a helium-filled crimson bladder with a life of its own. This time it is Taiwanese director Hsiao-hsien Hou who uses the floating orb for all sorts of emblematic, metaphorical brain stimulation, while Montmartre and Notre Dame shimmer and hum away in the background."

"This eloquent study of loneliness and postmodern drift likely will be received with more admiration than rapture by the helmer's followers. But Juliette Binoche's turn as a harried single mom and pic's enlivening portrait of domestic rupture make this a highly accessible Hou."

"In the end what elevates Mr. Hou’s films to the sublime -- and this one comes close at times -- are not the stories but their telling."

"A pleasant if supercilious homage."

"There are no Hollywood chase scenes, no dramatic plot twists, and nothing much happens. But Hou still manages to create a warm portrait of off-beat family life in Paris, and that's the beauty of Flight of the Red Balloon."

"This is not a children's picture, although it touches on the imaginative powers and emotional resilience of children. It's another slice of Hou's distinctly poetic realism, and as such, also a kind of tribute to Paris -- the Paris of both today and of the older film."

"A superb display of pure cinema from one of the masters of the medium."

"It's a bit like eavesdropping on a bus - occasionally you hear something interesting, but it's mostly mundane."