Flight of the Red Balloon

I just can’t get with the program on Hou Hsaio-Hsien. Though the Taiwanese Hou is frequently anointed by critics as the cinematic heir of Ozu, my enthusiasm for the one has never extended to the other. For me, it’s the difference between nothing happens and nothing happens. But in Hou’s latest, Juliet Binoche happens, and she makes a big difference. The going is slow and the story almost nonexistent, but Juliet comes through expressively, as the chaotic mother of a young boy, trying to balance running a boho household with a career leading a puppet troupe. She’s got tousled, bleached hair, and a distracted air. She hires a Chinese film student to mind her son, but loves him despite her distraction. The interrelations within the house emerge obliquely, in the course of long takes that combine seeming randomness with precise visual design. And then of course there’s the whole “symbolic” level of the red balloon, which follows the boy through the streets of Paris and hovers outside various windows, in overt homage to the 1956 Albert Lamorrisse children’s film classic. I acknowledge there’s a lot going on for the filmmaker, but for this film viewer, not so much. I suspect it would help to watch this on the big screen, where you could use your leisure to explore the depth and breadth of the frame, or in an audience of adoring film festival fans who could sweep you up in their admiration. I don’t resent the time spent at Hou’s pace and angle, but it doesn’t fly for me. (2008, dvd, n.) *6+* (MC-86.)