With Mac Miller’s posthumous album Balloonerism set to be released Friday, an accompanying short film titled Balloonerism: A Film Based on The Album By Mac Miller played Wednesday at Carnegie Science Center and also in New York. The short movie will be screened in eight international cities today.
Tickets were $5, with all proceeds going to the Mac Miller Foundation, which aims to help young musicians “realize their potential through exploration, expression and community.”
Everyone attending the movie got three free promotional gifts: a movie poster, a T-shirt, and a collectible movie ticket.
This short animated film is a coming-of-age piece that focuses on the group of kids from the Balloonerism song “Excelsior.” They follow a path of self discovery as they run from a giant turtle, which is essentially a representation of the real world and the hardships that come with it.
The children – Little Timmy, Max, Claire, Julie, and Johnny – are playing in a playground when they witness Mac’s keyboard/synth machine crash into a field near them. As they go to investigate it, they are transformed into animal versions of themselves, such as rabbits and birds.
The movie has several Pittsburgh references, like a Kennywood cable car that helps the kids narrowly escape the turtle. It brings them to Kennywood’s Thunderbolt roller coaster while the chase by the turtle ensues.
The film is a solemn and bittersweet piece created to accompany the album, with tracks and pieces of tracks playing to score the film. It was directed by Samuel Jerome Mason, who does an amazing job detailing the kids’ chase and the experiences that follow.
