The fact that it's based on a true story - the closing credits include photographs of the actual families - does not make up for the amassing of red herrings, close calls, and occasions for head-scratching.

Filmmaker Herbig and his team prove to be especially adept at contriving situations where anything anyone does causes fear, anxiety, stress and worry, leaving everyone, very much including the audience, existing on the knife's edge of unremitting tension.

"Balloon" is decent entertainment to a degree, and that is mostly thanks to its handsome production values.

It is a very well-acted picture (with a lot of emotion conveyed in the performances) that also effectively delves into the strains of marital and child relations, while at the same time the sacrifices we make to better the lives of our children.