6 Balloons – Recap/ Review (with Spoilers)

[Unless Said Otherwise] Spoiler Alert: This summary and review contains spoilers.

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6 Balloons may not become your favorite movie, but it will help you see Dave Franco and Abbi Jacobson in a new light.

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Director(s)		Marja-Lewis Ryan
Screenplay By		Marja-Lewis Ryan
Date Released		4/6/2018
Genre(s)		Drama
Noted Actors
Seth	Dave Franco
Katie	Abbi Jacobson
Ella	Charlotte Carel, Madeline Carel

Trigger Warning(s): Needle usage, as well as defecation.

Summary

On July 4^th, the day of her boyfriend’s birthday, Katie finds herself spending most of the day dealing with Seth who is a heroin addict, with his 2-year-old daughter Ella coming for the ride. All the while, this tape plays talking about the feelings in which Katie is going through since, trying to get Seth to not only do rehab but stay clean is routine at this point. She is already $5,000 in the hole trying to keep him alive. Yet, for reasons he can’t or won’t explain, he is still an addict. Even with a child who slowly but surely is getting traumatized when her dad goes through withdrawal.

Highlights

It Really Proves Comedic Actors Could Easily Have Careers In Drama

Jacobson and Franco put on the type of performances which makes it seem they are ready for an Oscar bait movie. Katie is the long-suffering sister who doesn’t give up on her brother, no matter how he practically begs her to, and Franco is this adorable brother you just wanna see get better. Yet, no matter what memories of good times they have, Seth’s heroin addiction, which was born from taking Oxycotin ruins everything.

Ella

 

But you know what is really going to hit you in the gut? The two actresses who play Ella, Charlotte and Madeline Carel. The fact that Seth is so far gone he can shoot up in the same bathroom his daughter is being changed in? Us watching Seth withe in pain from withdrawal to the point he is scaring his daughter – that was something else! It was like the movie was pushing against a line we don’t often see touched. So as much as you want to give props to the adults, you have to acknowledge how Ella’s presence takes things one step further. For it pushes you to understand how Katie and Seth are drowning in their own mess that Ella being traumatized isn’t really thought of to the extent it should.

On The Fence

One Could Argue The Film Is More About The Shock of Franco and Jacobson Playing These Types of Characters Than The Characters Themselves

Do you ever get the vibe that sometimes an actor plays a role just to purely prove themselves? Not to imply they don’t like or respect the character, but it is more so about having a meaty role to prove naysayers wrong about their versatility or talent? At times, this movie may give you that vibe.

Overall: Positive (Worth Seeing)

While the film feels a bit light and speedy, at only a little more than an hour, you learn to appreciate it. Yes, it is weird we don’t see how the community interacts with Seth much, ranging from his parents, Ella’s mom, and Katie’s friends, but that would just fatten up the movie. Giving us stuff which, with whispers and one or two scenes, gets the point across. What really matters is Seth’s relationship with Ella and Katie for those are the only two factors which could possibly get him to the place he needs to be. Everyone else either doesn’t matter or is a stressor so you come to enjoy that only the essential relationships are focused on.

Leading to why the positive label. Though Franco has showed signs of bringing emotional intelligence to his characters, he was still performing in a film rooted in being a comedy usually. With this, alongside Jacobson who proves she is more than her Broad City character, we get the type of performances which prove these two may just be underestimated in Hollywood and are more diverse than given credit for.

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