Rating: 3.5
'The Kid with a Bike' was directed by the two French-speaking Dardenne brothers from Belgium. The film was shot in Belgium, in the town of Seraing, were the Dardennes held approximately 100 auditions and settled on an outstanding child actor neophyte, Thomas Doret, who plays the 10 year old protagonist, Cyril.
According to Wikipedia, the Dardenne brothers wanted to tell their story much like a fairy tale and chose not to develop many of the adult characters in the film. Hence, the portraits of the adults are quite sketchy. For example, we never find out much about Cyril's father except for the fact that he's broke and emotionally can't cope with the idea of taking care of a child. Similarly, Samantha, the hairdresser who adopts Cyril, doesn't have much of a back story and we mainly learn what she's about, vis-a-vis her relationship with the child.
While not without its problems, the film largely succeeds on the performance of young Mr. Doret, in the role of Cyril. The film's scenarists make it quite clear how devastating it can be for a young child to be rejected by a parent. The first thirty minutes of the film chronicle Cyril's failed attempt to reunite with his father after he runs away from a youth facility which houses rejected children. Cyril won't accept that his father has moved out of the apartment and has abandoned him. Through his tenacity he tracks him down but the father won't be honest with his son that he has no intention of seeing him again. With Samantha's intervention, the father finally tells Cyril the truth. The reaction is predictable: self-destructive, acting out behavior on the part of the rejected child.
There's a great scene of a portent of things to come when Cyril begins banging his head inside the car and Samantha must stop him. Later, Cyril runs away from home, not before stabbing Samantha, who is at a loss how to handle the out of control child. Cyril eventually ends up in the hands of a criminal, a local drug addict, who teaches him how to rob people. Cyril actually ends up assaulting a father and son with a baseball bat and knocks them out cold. The criminal tells Cyril to get lost but gives him some proceeds from the robbery which Cyril promptly brings to his father with the plan to help him. The father doesn't want to get in trouble and throws the money away and tells Cyril to get lost.
Now having been rejected by his drug addict mentor, and a second time by his father, Cyril returns to Samantha and begs her forgiveness. But first he's forced to apologize to his victims in family court (the father accepts Cyril's apology but the son refuses to meet with the 10 year old). The court hearing is resolved when Samantha agrees to pay restitution to the father and son, for their medical treatment.
The main part of the plot that feels contrived is the climax where the younger victim of Cyril's assault chases Cyril into a forested area. The boy throws a rock at Cyril, striking him and causing him to fall to the ground after he climbed up a tree. At first, it appears that Cyril has been killed due to the fall but miraculously regains consciousness, and then stoically pedals away on his bike. My problem with that whole scene is that I couldn't believe that the father (the victim of Cyril's bat attack) wouldn't prevent his son from going after Cyril, especially with the full knowledge that the boy did not accept the younger Cyril's apology (by not showing up at the Family Court hearing) and was so angry at him, that there was the possibility that he might resort to violence.
In addition to the aforementioned sketchy characterizations, 'The Kid With a Bike' makes awkward use of a short passage from a Beethoven Piano Concerto whenever the directors seek to highlight an emotional scene. It's always the same, repetitious musical passage, which doesn't feel organically integrated into those particular scenes which require particular emotional emphasis.
'The Kid With a Bike' still manages to be fairly absorbing as the Dardenne brothers ably depict the psychology of a young boy, who goes through stages of grief due to the rejection by a parent. In this particular case, Samantha's love turns the boy in a positive direction and after all the angst, it's nice to experience the heart-felt, happy ending.This award winning foreign film is one of the best films I have seen in the last 12 months. We have a frantic young boy, heart broken by his ne'er-do-well father and a wonderfully loving woman who eventually plays a major role in shaping this young boy's life. A must see.
Buy The Kid with a Bike (Criterion Collection) (2011) Now
With nothing but garbage on TV, I thought I'd try something from Amazon. We saw that this film got several Kudos, so we thought we'd give it a go. A boy shuffled into an orphanage want desperately to be reunited with his father fights the system and life in his efforts to find his father. In a chance encounter, a young woman takes an interest in him, recovers his bike for him and ultimately agrees to take him as a foster parent on weekends. The rest of the film deals with the boy struggling with his past and new relationships including that with the young woman. A very powerful story about abandonment, love and compassion.Read Best Reviews of The Kid with a Bike (Criterion Collection) (2011) Here
It seems that the best films about human nature, or real topics that actually matter, are made outside the Hollywood system. I suppose anguish and inner turmoil doesn't translate into an exciting viewing experience, or one that will encourage people to pay to see the film. I understand that equation, and it makes me respect filmmakers who attempt to bring to life these rarely shown topics.The Kid with a Bike is one such film. It sits on the top row of my movie collection right next to Kes, and that's so appropriate. Both films are about childhood, and boys who do not have a loving family environment. Incidentally, both were made in Europe.
The title reminds me of The Bicycle Thief, and I found that to be one of the most touching and realistic portrayals of a father/son relationship. The Kid with a Bike is touching in a different way.
This review contains spoilers, and reveals a similar amount of information as the trailer. If you don't want to know anything else about the story, please stop reading now.
The film is about 11-year-old Cyril Catoul (Thomas Doret), who lives in a children's home. His mother isn't mentioned at any point in the story, and his father has abandoned him. The opening scenes show Cyril trying to come to terms with his situation. He doesn't believe that his father wouldn't want him, or that he would move out of his apartment without telling Cyril where he was going. Cyril is angry and aggressive, and only calms down a little when he's shown that his father's old apartment is truly empty.
During his struggles, he grabs hold of a woman. She's Samantha (Cécile De France), and wants to help. She locates the man who bought Cyril's bike from his father, and buys it back for him. He refuses to accept that his father would sell it, insisting that it must have been stolen. He barely remembers to thank Samantha for her kindness, but races after her and asks if he can stay with her on the weekends. She says that she will call the home and try to arrange it.
Cécile De France is not a stunning beauty, but she's an incredibly warm actress. If you saw her performance in Hereafter, you'll know what I mean. She has a way of making you believe that she is intelligent, sensitive, thoughtful, and caring. This ability makes her an excellent choice for the role. We are never told why Samantha lives alone, but it partly explains why she might find it important to help Cyril. Is she looking for the kind of love that a child might offer, or does she merely empathize with his plight, and is hoping to give him the kind of love that she didn't have as a child?
Cyril is hard to like for much of the film. He's often angry, deeply mistrustful of adults, and disobedient when he doesn't get exactly what he wants. Samantha manages to arrange a meeting with his father, and Cyril finally learns some difficult truths about the man. I connected with this part of the film because I never knew my own father. Luckily, I grew up in a loving environment with my mother and grandparents. My experiences helped me to understand anger, and the need to be as independent as possible. Cyril doesn't trust adults because he can't be sure they will be there for him when it matters.
One boy in the neighborhood is keen to befriend him, but Cyril is more drawn to an older boy who is suspected of dealing drugs. He's seemingly kind to Cyril, but we know that he's simply trying to gain trust, and that his true motives haven't yet been revealed. It works to some degree because Cyril responds to actions rather than promises.
This is a film about decisions. What are Samantha's reasons for trying to help him? What does his father really want? Should Cyril keep hoping for love that he may never have from his father, or settle for the love that is being offered by Samantha? Will he ever control his anger and become worthy of anyone's love?
The Dardenne brothers ask a lot of questions and provide very few answers, but the closing scene suggests that Cyril has learned something about life, and that his future might not be as bleak as his current existence.
The Criterion package is superb, and comes with a booklet, a great transfer, and more than two hours of special features. If you are interested in the Dardenne brothers, one interview lasts 74 minutes and reveals a lot about their methods.
The Kid with a Bike is not an easy film to watch, and the payoff is implied rather than shown. However, it's a strong, realistic portrayal of childhood, and the performances do it justice. If you like to contemplate life, it's worth your time.
Overall score 4.5/5
Want The Kid with a Bike (Criterion Collection) (2011) Discount?
If you're looking for a real and honest portrayal of what it's like to be a child or an adolescent on film, you really have to step outside of the US. There's something about the typical American portrayal of kids that never really reaches for anything profound. Three benchmark examples come to mind of non-American portrayals or youth. The first is Francois Truffaut's The 400 Blows, the second is Luis Bunuel's Los Olvidados, and the third is Edward Yang's Yi Yi. THe Dardennes Brothers The Kid With a Bike isn't quite in the league of those films, it's a worthy successor and a fine film in it's own right.The film focuses on a child named Cyril, played by Thomas Doret. Cyril has been all but abandoned by his father Guy, who is neither financially or emotionally able to care for Cyril. Cyril is living in what appears to be a group home, and he frequently acts out and tries to contact his father. He's mostly rebuked by his father, but a chance encounter with a hairdresser named Samantha, played by Cecile De France, leads to Samantha all but adopting Cyril. It's not an easy transition for the Cyril, who yearns for his father, or any father figure, and eventually falls in with bad crowd.
The Kid with the Bike is about the yearning for a father figure. Cyril's actually father Guy completely rejects him. He's either too emotionally immature or financially unstable to support Cyril. It's likely a combination of both. Samantha's boyfriend, on the otherhand, is completely rejected by Cyril. He seems like a pale reflection of a father figure to him. Eventually Cyril finds a surrogate father in Wes, a young hood who recruits young kids to help him in his various criminal endeavors. This ultimately leads to disappointment as well, as Wes is nothing more than a common hood who feels nothing for Cyril.
So this brings Cyril back to Samantha, the woman who cares for him almost unconditionally. She forsakes the relationship with her boyfriend when he makes her chose between him and Cyril. He choses Cyril. Samantha may not be the father he's looking for, she is there for him and provides the nurturing of a mother.
The ending scene is the only aspect of the film that breaks with the low key nature of the film. I don't want to spoil the ending, but it didn't feel quite as organic as the rest of the film.
If you're a fan of movies like the 400 Blows and Los Olvidados then you'll probably find a lot to like in the Kid with a Bike. If you enjoy low key slice of life dramas then you'll probably like this as well. It's not a perfect film or an out and out classic, but it's an enjoyable and well realized portrayal of a troubled youth.
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