It’s not easy being Thomas. He’s turning 16 and moving into a new house and a new school. His older brother Charlie announces their arrival to the neighbours by banging a wooden spoon and wailing on the front lawn. Charlie doesn’t speak. He’s autistic and has ADD. He’s also unpredictable, sometimes unmanageable and often disgusting. Thomas hates his brother, but wishes he didn’t.

The Mollisons are an army family, but are the furthest thing from a regimented lifestyle. With a sports-obsessed father who talks to a teddy bear, and a bedridden mother expecting child number three (brilliantly played by Oscar-nominated Toni Collette), there doesn’t leave much room for Thomas who himself is left to navigate the oft harsh and embarrassing road through adolescence.

Starring Australian teen television star Rhys Wakefield (Home and Away) as Thomas, and international teen model Gemma Ward as classmate Jackie, The Black Balloon delivers some of the strongest onscreen performances in a family film in recent years.

Both heartwarming and heartbreaking, The Black Balloon seamlessly captures the hilarity, the drama and ultimately the love that only one’s family can truly comprehend.