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China · 2019
1h 42m
Director Pema Tseden
Starring Sonam Wangmo, Jinpa, Yangshik Tso, Konchok
Genre Drama
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In the Tibetan grasslands, a mishap with a condom leads a couple to an unwanted pregnancy. They are apprehensive at the idea of having another child. However, following the recent passing of their children's grandfather, the couple is forced to grapple with whether or not they should consider their unborn child as the reincarnation of its grandfather.
CineVue by Christopher Machell
Balloon never uses its characters as proxies for political discussion; Tseden’s concern is firmly with his characters as human beings. His method is rooted in realism, favouring intimate, often handheld camera work whose immediacy is juxtaposed against often stunningly beautiful compositions and dreamlike landscapes.
Little White Lies by David Jenkins
Tseden directs with a low-slung commitment to a dramatically heightened form of social realism, and this deceptively simple story ends up speaking volumes about how love, sex, marriage and parenting sit at a paradoxical remove from the dictates of the state, and the parochial attitudes of the older generation.
While armed with plenty of social critique, the beauty of Balloon goes beyond this tug-of-war between modernity and tradition.
The Observer (UK) by Wendy Ide
The latest film from the acclaimed writer-director Pema Tseden casts a typically wry eye over the collision between modernity and tradition in 1980s Tibet.
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