In the middle of nowhere a man is seen near an apparently broken down car. Is he trying to fit a flat tire? He refuses help of other passing drivers. Eventually he makes a small car pull over, gets in and the car drives away. The car left behind hides a hideous secret.
Vis Vitalis’ film, ‘Balloon’ builds up tension slowly. Its character is acting strange. He has an unusual behaviour, an unsettling one. Help… he is not interested in. To drive away… he doesn’t look in a rush either. And then… blood on his hand. Is he hurt? The viewer experiences a long row of questions and uncertainties. Something is certainly going wrong in ‘Balloon’ from the very beginning but director Vis Vitalis isn’t in a hurry of telling us what. He just keeps enhancing the mystery, he just pushes his character to a stranger and stranger posture. By his short flick the director suggests that oftenly common people and common situations hide unsuspected truths; especially when there is a strange behaviour something unusual might be happening backstage.
‘Balloon’’s cinematography is confident and patient and its clear aim is to intrigue before it unveils the truth.
The film has a psychological thriller appearance that slowly metamorphoses to a horror feel, giving chills down the spine. With a somewhat unexpected ending, Vis Vitalis’ film surprises the viewer with the true face of its character.
Very concise – at around 4 minutes long – ‘Balloon’ offers the viewer a short entertaining getaway from reality.
TMFF RATING:
Share:
