HOLLYWOOD movies tend to romanticize the men tally challenged. Not first- time Australian director Elissa Down, who draws on her own experiences for “The Black Balloon,” an unsparing but sympathetic look at a family with an autistic teenager.
The main protagonist is 15-year-old Thomas (Rhys Wakefield), who struggles to balance his love for and his growing mortification at his afflicted other brother, Charlie (Luke Ford, Brendan Fraser’s son in “The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor”).
Among other things, Thomas has to chase Charlie into the bathroom of a gorgeous new schoolmate (Gemma Ward) on whom Thomas has developed a crush.
The situation comes to a head when their enormously patient mother (the always-wonderful Toni Collette) is hospitalized during a difficult pregnancy and their soldier dad asks Thomas to take charge of Charlie, who also has ADD and is given to fits of rage.
“The Black Balloon” doesn’t sugarcoat the difficulties faced by this family, but this small gem has a very satisfying ending.
Running time: 102 minutes. Rated PG-13 (brief violence, profanity, sexuality). At the Empire, the Village East, others.