Anthony Bourdain summed this movie up better than I ever could in his book Medium Raw:
"The poor kid is clearly impoverished and clearly unloved. He wears the same clothes every day. Immediately on finding his balloon, he's ostracized by society, banned from public transportation, chastised at school, even ejected from the church. His parents are either dead or have abandoned him--as the hideous crone who cruelly throws his balloon out the window at first encounter is clearly too old to be his mom."
"The poor kid is clearly impoverished and clearly unloved. He wears the same clothes every day. Immediately on finding his balloon, he's ostracized by society, banned from public transportation, chastised at school, even ejected from the church. His parents are either dead or have abandoned him--as the hideous crone who cruelly throws his balloon out the window at first encounter is clearly too old to be his mom."
As I read his description, I couldn't help it, I got that cringey frisson of dread, immediately knowing I'd seen the movie at some point in my life, most likely as a young child, and while remembering little details of it, knowing full well that I disliked it very much. Now that I have actually seen it again, all I can say is, some things are better left in the past.
