Line #22 Film/TheBlackBalloon2007


1	[[quoteright:236:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/theblackballoon_official_poster.jpg]]
2	''The Black Balloon'' is an Australian {{dramedy}} film directed by Elissa Down and written by her and Jimmy Jack. It revolves around Thomas Mollison (Creator/RhysWakefield), a fifteen-year-old boy whose older brother Charlie (Luke Ford) has autism and ADD. Their mother Maggie (Creator/ToniCollette) is expecting another child, and their father Simon (Erik Thomson) insists on bed rest, meaning that Thomas has to take on a lot more responsibility than usual. At his new school, he falls in love with Jackie Masters (Gemma Ward), and although Jackie is accepting of Charlie, Thomas still worries that he'll get in the way of their relationship.
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4	!!''The Black Balloon'' contains examples of:
5	* AffectionateNickname: Simon calls Maggie "Magpie."
6	* AppealToObscurity: On an invasive weed Jackie likes:
7	--> '''Thomas''': They strangle all the native plants and probably poison all the native animals.\
8	'''Jackie''': What native animals?\
9	'''Thomas''': Exactly.
10	* BananaPeel: Charlie and his friend Russell appear in a SchoolPlay about [[Literature/TheBible Noah's Ark]] as two monkeys. Their dance involves one of them dropping a banana peel and the other pretending to slip.
11	* BathtubBonding: One scene has the brothers in the tub together, with Thomas reminiscing about their childhood while Charlie pats soap onto their faces.
12	* BigGuyRodeo: Charlie takes a tampon from Jackie's backpack and runs away with it in his mouth. Thomas chases after him and jumps on his back in an attempt to grab the tampon, but Charlie easily pushes him off.
13	* BitchSlap: Maggie slaps Thomas for calling Charlie a freak.
14	* BigNo: Charlie groans, "Nooo! Noooooooooo!" while he has a meltdown in the grocery store.
15	* CryIntoChest: Thomas cries into Maggie's chest after he and Charlie have a particularly nasty fight in front of Jackie.
16	* MaleGaze: When Thomas and his classmates check out girls at the pool, the camera pans up their bodies.
17	* MissingMom: Implied. Jackie thinks that if she could get the visual snow when she closes her eyes to go away, she'd be able to see her mom.
18	* ReallyMovesAround: Thanks to being a MilitaryBrat, Thomas went to three primary schools and is on his second high school.
19	* PapaWolf: After being visited by Youth and Community services for complaints about Charlie's behaviour, he angrily tells off his ableist neighbour for calling them.
20	* PottyEmergency: When Charlie has to pee, he enters a stranger's unlocked house, while Thomas tries to stop him. This leads to a MeetCute with Jackie, who is taking a shower in the same bathroom Charlie uses.
21	* SecurityBlanket: Simon's teddy bear Rex. Simon has "conversations" with him and even takes him to the hospital to visit Maggie.
22	* SchoolPlay: At the end of the film, the family (including Jackie) watches Charlie perform with Russell in a school play based on [[Literature/TheBible Noah's Ark]], down in their local special school, where they portray two monkeys. However, Russell has a meltdown whilst performing, and after a disagreement between the two backstage, Russell pulls out and Thomas volunteers to take over the role for Charlie's sake. Together, he and Charlie perform an outstanding act.
23	* TheSpeechless: Charlie was verbal as a small child, but now he can only make approximations of some words, like "kuh"[[note]]"monkey"[[/note]] and "no." He communicates mostly through sign language.
24	* TantrumThrowing:
25	** In one scene, Charlie throws a tantrum in the supermarket checkout after his dad is forced to put a few bits of shopping back due to not having enough money. After his dad drags him out in frustration, Thomas gets really embarrassed at this display.
26	** Later, after the meltdown, when Thomas angrily threatens him with no stars, he gets so upset that he throws a stool through the window.

Context Film / TheBlackBalloon2007