Billy's Balloon (1998)

Good concept, poorly executed.

Fantastic!

An Exercise In Nonsense

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

There's quite a few horror films where toys suddenly turn evil and attack their owners, mostly of course Chucky. 15 years ago, writer-director Don Hertzfeldt, then in his early 20s, gives us his approach on the matter. A world full of vile balloons, but they only reveal they're alive when no grown-ups are around, just like the protagonists from Toy Story. I recently read that Oprah Winfrey has a severe case of balloon-phobia. I wonder if she ever watched this short film.Anyway, everything seems harmless at first until little Billy's red balloon all of a sudden reveals his inner life and starts punching the poor kid. The severity of the attacks increases by the second and this film turns out as sadistic as funny. If you're constantly annoyed by noisy rattles, you will surely like the punishment depicted herein, the highlight being one balloon pulling up a baby to watch another baby, pulled up by another balloon, being hit by an airplane the very moment when they're waving at each other. So much for misery loves company.Bitter films, the name of the production company is quite fitting. You'll be massively appalled by this short film. Or you'll love it to death. Possibly both.

This isn't exactly like the famous 30-minute French classic film, "The Red Balloon." That 1956 Oscar-winning movie was about a young boy and his red balloon. So is this "cartoon," but that's where the similarity ends, story-wise.In this simply-drawn animated short, the red balloon - and other balloons- are nasty, sadistic, violent and deadly. Who would believe innocent balloons could be like this?! It's shocking at first, then funny, and then very funny as the dark humor totally takes over and the violence escalates. The variations on the one-joke theme are fresh and make this one of the fastest five-minute animated movies I've ever seen.I didn't find this "sick." It's just black humor. Anyone who appreciates totally absurdity should love this movie. Just don't expect the sweet-and-cuddly opening to last too long!!

so... it's a cartoon, where nobody dies, there's no blood, and the only violence involved is with a balloon. how much better can it get? plus we've all played hit-your-friend-in-the-head-with-the-balloon when we were kids. this is just one of the funniest things that i've ever watched. Rolling on the floor laughing funny. The first time i saw Billy's Balloon was at the Hawaii International Film Festival, and it was being screened with a whole bunch of other shorts. Billy was the best by far. It also introduced me to Bitterfilms and Don who i absolutely adore. if you like billy's balloon, check out Don's other work. you won't be disappointed.

This is a replacement comment. The original bothered a diligent reader, so I have made some expansion.Animation is like any film type: artists ally to certain philosophies, perhaps without realizing it. In the case of animation, it bumps up against that great American invention, noir. That's the notion that there is a world in the movie that is manipulated by forces unseen. Hapless characters are the manipulated and the fact that we are on the scene influences that manipulation somehow.With animation, its all about how objects act, how the environment conspires or not. Not all animators deal with objects the same way.In my original comment, I made two assertions. One was that the Czech animator Jan Svankmajer was sort of an icon for and a teacher of one school of philosophy so far as this cinematic religion. It has nothing at all to do with darkness, or political statements, or humor — that is all applied superficially. Its about how the strings behind the world are connected; what objects MEAN and how we sit on some of those strings. I say that Hertzfeldt is in this tradition and that he changes it not a whit. Does that make him less of an artist? That's up to you. He masters the philosophy without changing it, but his mastery is more engaging. Its the difference between the guy who writes the movie and the actor, between the composer and the fiddler. You decide.The second point I made was that I supposed Hertzfeldt saw a rough version of "pad" that was being circulated in film schools at the time. The stories there and here are similar. I am NOT saying he plagiarized, but to me the influence is clear.Having restated these two points, I can say that 1) this is fun.2) this is not important in my mind. He's done stuff that is, and I would like you to see it instead. It is not personal, nor unique, nor valuable watching like some of Hertzfeldts stuff can be. Pass on this unless you don't want to explore better stuff.Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.