THE FLIGHT OF THE RED BALLOON (PG)

Wed 17 Sep/8pm/£4.50 (£3.50)

France/Taiwan 2006 113 mins. Dir: Hou Hsiao-Hsien. With Juliette Binoche, Simon Iteanu.

Hou’s inspiration is Albert Lamorisse’s 1956 The Red Balloon, about a Parisian boy who is befriended by a balloon that follows him everywhere. Hou’s picture is a love letter to the earlier one; it also features a lonely boy and a watchful red balloon. The setting is a cross between the dream Paris and the real one, as if Hou were a visitor not from another country but from another time, or perhaps another planet.

“...exceptional...intricate, elaborate and exuding warmth and wisdom from its every frame”–TIME OUT