Review of The Kid with a Bike (2011) by Peter F — 22 Mar 2012

The film IS just as exciting as it's title portends it to be; but it would be unfair to slight this foreign language film in that manner as it doesn't aim for excitment or pulse-pounding thrills.

Nominated for a Golden Globe Best Foreign Language Film in 2011 and also a big winner at last year's Cannes Film Festival, this Belgian film is another stark and emotionally devastating film from Luc and Jean-Paul Dardenne (L'Enfant and Lorna's Silence are the two of theirs I have seen).

The film is about "the Kid" in the title, 11-year-old Cyril (non-actor Thomas Doret who does a remarkably fine job as a child actor carrying the weight of this film) who is quickly abandoned -- yep (!!!!!) -- by his "winning" father Guy (Jeremie Renier - In Bruges, L'Enfant, Brotherhood of the Wolf).

Cyril believes that his father is only temporarily leaving him in the state-run home for unwanted children at which he has been deposited ... he also believes that his father will not sell the bicycle his father had bought for him in the past which was an activity the two of them shared and bonded over.

Cyril is wrong in regards to both beliefs and the audience is fully of aware of Cyril's situation long before his is -- neither their bonding moments with the bike nor his own son mean much to the father.

As fate would have it, Cyril lucks out (for storytelling's sake) as he becomes a "weekend ward"/foster child of a kind, local hairdresser named Samantha (Cecile De France - Hereafter, High Tension, Mesrine) who goes out-of-her-way to help the troubled boy.

She has even located and re-purchased Cyril's bike which goes unappreciated by the boy as it isn't her love/support/concern that he is after -- the boy wants a father figure and Samantha canNOT provide that.

Cyril's behavior keeps the film from being heart-wrenching -- this should be a given as he is an abandoned child! -- as he ultimately proves to be rather unlikable (as Samantha may care too much for him!).

The film is rather short (85 minutes) and finely acted and while it does not demand attention it is respectable. The Dardenne brothers have made another character-study of a lost soul yearning to be found.

At a glance, The Kid with a Bike appears to be a movie about "nothing much"; but if one actually looks at it one can see that it is about a boy's life.