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(1 - 11) of 11 OFCS Rating: 91% Fresh Page   1   "Contemplative and at times poetic, but strongest when caught up in the whirlwind of conflicting emotions of Binoche's character, an overworked puppeteer and a mother of a son she mostly leaves in the care of a Chinese nanny."   european-films.net   Boyd van Hoeij "A dazzling, quietly heartrending work."   Film Journal International   Chris Barsanti 4.5/5 "You won't see anything as rapturous as this in any film this year."   Filmcritic.com   Chris Cabin "Some will read something deeper here, while others will find sweet caprice...but nothing would have been lost if the balloon had fallen to a cutting room floor."   ReelTalk Movie Reviews   Donald J. Levit 3/5 "A breezy film set in Paris about a busy single parent and her playful seven-year-old son in which a red balloon signals beauty and joy."   Spirituality and Practice   Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat B+ "Flight of the Red Balloon is as exhausting, in its languor, as the febrile culture Hou seems to criticize."   Cinepinion   Henry Stewart 3.5/4 "Hou Hsiao-hsien's trademark long takes call attention to the passage of time, and as such they're intimately attuned to his ongoing thematic interest in the bonds between the past, present, and future."   Slant Magazine   Nick Schager B+ "It just goes to show what can be done with a quiet, reflective film that does not have car chases, shootouts or mayhem, just a strong dose of beauty and imagination."   Reeling Reviews   Robin Clifford "Hou's first film made outside of Asia is his most emotionally turbulent, yet he remains, like the balloon, outside looking in, a compassionate but distant observer..."   Seattle Post-Intelligencer   Sean Axmaker "This is a transportive picture, the kind with the power to carry you outside of yourself; it is itself a flotation device."   Salon.com   Stephanie Zacharek 9/10 "For those on the right wavelength...this is magisterial cinema."   Antagony & Ecstasy   Tim Brayton  (1 - 11) of 11 OFCS Rating: 91% Fresh Page   1