be you sit comfortably . be you a tolerant and open mind person read this . how about if someone walk into your house and your bathroom and while your daughter be take a shower . they act extremely weird . can you still be kind and tolerant and act reasonably towards a strapping young man who and unknown to you and be autistic . the tagline for this film be and normality be relative . so just how much of someone else normality can you take . accord to director elissa down and the black balloon be and a metaphor for a wouldifferent childhood fill with moment of chaos and joy and sadness for what may have be . our cinematic awareness of autism be probably define by rain man and or the more nuanced but rarely see snow cake . elissa down say how and it be very important in the rehearsal process to take it to the street and for thomas and charlie and jackie and thomas to do some road test of their character in public . charlie and her main character and announce the family arrival to the neighbour by bang a wooden spoon and wail on the front lawn . charlie doesn not speak . he autistic and have add . he unpredictable and unmanageable and and often disgust . he recall not the mediated autism of rain man or snow flake but the out of control weirdness appropriate by lars von trier character in the controversial film and the idiot . charlie be not nice at least not until you have manage to see him through the eye of his devoted parent . to them and he be like a big child who have frequent tantrum . he not an ideal brother to young sibling thomas and who just turn sixteen . especially a the girl in the shower be the girl he be try to date . especially a when he finally have her over to dinner and charlie get his testosterone fill kit out at the table and give it a good rub . the shower girl be jackie master and thomas partner for basic life save class at school . in what seem like a happy nod to mainstream cinema and jackie be not only gorgeous but have a beautiful personality . she help thomas to feel more caring towards his brother a they soon form a threesome for day out together . toni collette play the boy mum and heavily pregnant . which mean charlie be call on to help dad around the house a bit more and with look after thomas . the black balloon be an excellent example of australian cinema come of age movie . it fearlessly reach outside the box and set up a tug of war between normalcy and idiosyncrasy . although there be element of rather unsubtle box office pandering ( the photogenic young couple and a rather simplistic finale ) it open up new challenge in the way we think about people . the black balloon be a film of which to be proud .