This heroin drama falls flat in execution. It's drama is overwrought, as it constantly tries to stay one step above a low grade Lifetime movie.

| Original Score: 1.5/4 | Oct 30, 2018

Franco and Jacobsen's on-screen relationship is utterly convincing not only in the forgiveness and sympathy we afford siblings but in showing how quickly we revert to the squabbling and resentments of childhood.

| Oct 16, 2018

Were 6 Balloons to be nothing more than an actor's showcase, it would work, unfortunately the rest of its pieces just never quite come together.

| Original Score: 6/10 | Oct 16, 2018

A brief but unrelenting study in the toll love can take on the person closest to an addict.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 27, 2018

Jacobson does a fantastic job portraying someone who's at the end of her rope while still feeling like she has to do more.

| Aug 27, 2018

In truth, it is about an addict and how his behavior, rather than reverberate, transforms the lives of those who love and surround him. [Full review in Spanish]

| May 14, 2018

The movie is modest and honestly scaled - adult in the best sense.

| May 9, 2018

Jacobson's performance was nothing short of stunning.

| Original Score: 4/5 | May 4, 2018

There aren't too many new ways of putting drug addiction under a filmed microscope, but writer-director Marja-Lewis Ryan has created an original, affecting drama that will both disturb and inspire.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 11, 2018

Much like its frazzled protagonist, 6 Balloons has a strong sense of direction, but the film is too constricted to let go, embrace the detours, and allow life to takes it course.

| Original Score: C | Apr 10, 2018

The narrative arc of 6 Balloons is not much either, a progression from positive to negative that leaves no space for a gray scale or ambiguity that might have added value to the story. [Full Review in Spanish]

| Apr 10, 2018

As a mood piece and character portrait, 6 Balloons is a strong debut for Ryan. But though it doesn't overstay its welcome, by the time the credits roll, 6 Balloons feels like it still has more to say.

| Original Score: B- | Apr 9, 2018

6 Balloons is moody and moving, yet frustrating and clumsy and sometimes too on-the-nose.

| Original Score: 8/10 | Apr 9, 2018

Though Katie's arc becomes fairly predictable by the last of 6 Balloons' breathless 74 minutes, the transparency of her character's development doesn't render it any less powerful.

| Apr 9, 2018

Sure, it's not easy to watch, but maybe that's exactly why you should.

| Apr 6, 2018

It's a compliment to first-time feature writer-director Marja-Lewis Ryan that we want more of what she has to offer.

| Apr 6, 2018

At just over an hour, it feels worthy of expansion, but as a short, sharp reminder of the sprawling horror of addiction, it makes its point with a stinging sadness.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 6, 2018

It's a brief portrait with a devastating subject, but it feels unfinished, relying too often on well-worn techniques to complete an intimate study that may have simply needed a second pass.

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | Apr 5, 2018

"6 Balloons" is wrenching stuff, but it offers points of behavioral illumination to enhance the viewing experience, and there's Franco doing his best work to date.

| Original Score: B+ | Apr 4, 2018

At just over 70 minutes, Balloons feels more like a sketch or a character study than a fully realized film, but it's an affecting sketch nonetheless.

| Original Score: B | Apr 3, 2018