Directed by the Taiwanese great Hou Hsiao Hsien in a loose, improvisatory style that captures the multicultural buzz of contemporary Paris, Flight stars Juliette Binoche - blond and harried - as a single mom juggling her job (a voice actress and puppeteer) and her parenting responsibilities. Griping about her ex, about her flaky downstairs neighbor, and rushing to work with a Chinese puppet theater master, Binoche's Suzanne recruits a Taiwanese film student - played by Song Fang - to take care of her son.
Much of Flight, then, tracks the nanny and her charge as they perambulate around Paris, that red balloon darting and flitting nearby. A meditation on art, life, loneliness and the links between friends and strangers, the movie has a grace and humor that's wonderfully inviting. Hou gives Binoche free rein, and there are patches in which the actress' rambling, exercised speeches and anxious physicality become a little too much.
But just a little, and then the sublime poetry of Hou's film kicks in again. - Steven Rea
