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The Kid With A Bike review
:. Director: Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne
:. Starring: C©cile de France, Thomas Doret
:. Running Time: 1:27
:. Year: 2011
:. Country: France
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The Dardenne brothers have - among others - one particular talent, which is being able to successfully renew themselves, without departing from their universe, without having to push further the exploration of their own narrative and creativity. While one always feels on familiar territory when watching their movies, the filmmakers still manage to construct stories which, behind their apparent simplicity, prove to be complex and well-crafted oeuvres.
Unsurprisingly, The Kid With A Bike is in this vein. Sort of a social tale, including a little red riding hood in the process of making his initiation, a big bad wolf and a fairy, this film tells the story of Cyril, a 12 years boy (Thomas Doret, perfect in this role) living in foster care. Looking for his father who abandoned him for a fresh start, he meets a hairdresser, Samantha (Cecile de France, a convincing Mother Courage) and finds his bike, which provides him with strength and soothes his anger. He will learn to channel that anger and draw the energy to get back in the saddle, literally and figuratively, to advance in life.
About the mother, we know nothing; neither do we about the motivations that are pushing Samantha to act as an adoptive mother. The intelligence of the film lies in the gray areas that ultimately have little importance. Because what matters here is how two people are discovering and accepting each other, how they take on the challenge to get on the road together, after having accepted the mourning of their past. The film is therefore set into the present, following the two characters as they move forward - whether he's running away or going on shopping sprees, Cyril is always in movement. His wanderings define a geography that shapes the structure of the narrative: the city, his father's restaurant - where hope will fade away -, the woods where he encounters evil and temptation (through the drug dealer character), a return to home and the hair salon where his life gets reconstructed into the unknown, thanks to his relationship with Samantha.
The Kid With A Bike is probably the most luminous Dardenne film so far and the most optimistic. If it does not revolutionize the filmography of the Belgian brothers, it finds his rightful place in their career. Almost calm, like a metaphor for Cyril's new anger-free state of mind, the film offers a nice breath of fresh air amid more difficult films - in both their form and theme - such as Rosetta and The Son. Time for peace?
Moland Fengkov
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