On Friday, January 17, 2025, almost seven years after the death of artist Mac Miller, his estate released his second posthumous album “Balloonerism”. The album consists of unfinished works recorded in the spring of 2014 by the artist.
Coming out along with its release, a short film of the same name directed by Samuel Jerome Mason. The short film runs a total of 24 minutes and uses songs from the new album that have inspired the storyline. It made a theatrical release in select locations on Wednesday, January 15, in New York, Pittsburg, Berlin, Dublin, London, Toronto, Auckland, Melbourne and Sydney. It was then made available internationally two days later on Amazon Prime.
The short film follows a group of children who come to face the difficulties of adulthood, addiction and self-identity. The film experiments with animation and gives the feeling of something out of this world with its open environments and colossal objects. Other artistic choices that enhance the feeling of surrealness are the realistic design given to the characters, as they resemble walking puppets embodying a soul.
The film begins by introducing us to characters with the song, “Excelsior,” evoking a sense of childhood nostalgia. In this track, Mac Miller references what it was like to dream as a child. He highlights the loss of magic in our goals as we begin to grow up, conform to society and drift away from dreaming. Soon after, an organ falls from the sky, and the children approach it with curiosity. As our protagonist, Little Timmy, plays it, they are transported into another world.
In this new reality, they become animals, with shadows presenting them as terrifying creatures. However, they are still children who look at these terrifying images and treat them as a performance. The worlds vary from theme parks, waters and dream-like landscapes. Everything is a blur and the characters are allowed to roam freely, defying gravity, but it also traps them if they do not know where to take their next step. The magic of the film is created by the incorporation of nature with the characters, and the film becomes darker when they fall into human corruption.
The fusion of music and the creative storyline captures the essence of life and death. It does not shy away from topics such as addiction, drugs and mental illness. As the film tells its story through motion and lyrics, we never hear any of the characters speak. The most that is communicated through the characters is when Little Timmy plays the organ.
Overall, the film is a masterpiece that does justice to the album as a whole. It keeps its soothing allure, while at the same time being intense and making us uncomfortable about topics that affect our youth and society as a whole. It makes us question if we have lost our own personal connection with art and creativity. The most impactful scene for me in the whole film is when “Funny Papers” begins to play. As we travel along the organ and listen to the lyrics, we are reminded that nothing in life is guaranteed, that even when we think we “made it,” we have not, and that even yet, hope is still present even in the darkest moments. The release of “Ballonerism” created a piece of art that is worth watching, listening to and appreciating for what it is.
