"Flight of the Red Balloon"

I was at Movie Max the other day with a friend and bumped into something I thought I'd seen before. "I recognize that RED BALLOON...hmmmm", I thought, and immediately got a flashback of me, 5 or 6 years old, watching an older version of this film at a school in Manhattan, where we got free lunch, I don't exactly remember why ;)

I have got to rent it!

I didn't rent it that day because we were there for something else, but the red balloon on that cover stayed on my mind. A couple of days later, I went back and got it, and have just finished watching it.

There's something very peculiar about the last couple of months. I feel like after a couple of years of internal storms, a growing up process, and the past 2 years, falling back into my senses, I've entered a stage of RECOGNITION. It's like, in the process of growing up, I've earned as well as lost some things along the way, and those that I have lost are somehow coming back now. Perhaps because it is now that I am ready for them. Ready to use them, to understand them, or maybe, just ready to appreciate them.

Anyways, I remember being so young, and so happy about everything that was going on that day. I was accompanied by mommy, my little brother and a couple of cousins. We were all excited to get free lunch in school trays at the cafeteria, and then pass on to a big room where the french short film "THE RED BALLOON" was being shown.

I can recall my fascination with the plot of the story; I mean, here was a little boy being followed by a red balloon that, as wikipedia describes (I love wikipedia!), seemed to have a mind and will of its own! The entire story just follows around the balloon and the boy as they wander through the streets of Paris. Isn't it great?! If you've become at all intrigued with the description I've provided (wink*), you can watch it right HERE!

The new version that I just watched was also very good. I love Juliette Binoche and I love french films! Similar to the original movie, the red balloon also follows the little boy of THIS film...but not so crazy like the original one. The modern balloon is more discrete :) I enjoyed this film a lot too, and was just so excited to get these childhood flashbacks!

Oh! And a friend had mentioned something about a carrousel and "grabbing the brass ring", which I didn't understand, until a scene came up in this movie, were kids are trying to catch the brass ring while on the merry-go-round! I was looking for the scene in the film on youtube.com but couldn't find it. Take a look at this, though...just in case there is someone like me that doesn't know about this. Isn't it cool how we just keep learning little things each day?