Leaburn O
A redemptive tale of sorts in typical Dardenne style. A bleak French everywhere and nowhere is the setting as usual and the child is as anarchical and rootless as expected. It’s short but well put together, just, unsure if it’s really any different to what we’ve already seen from these Directors. Maybe no bad thing as it’s still a decent film but I’m not sure if it’s purpose. Watched on DVD.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
05/25/24
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Dave S
As with all films from Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne, The Kid with a Bike feels achingly real. Cyril (Thomas Doret) is a 12-year-old boy who, after having been abandoned by his father, is forced to live in a home for needy children. Adopted on a part-time basis by Samantha (Cecile de France), a virtual stranger, Cyril is motivated by two factors – his undying belief that he will reunite with his father and the love of his bike. Shot with handheld cameras, the movie has the feel of a documentary, a raw and impactful viewing experience highlighted by a remarkable performance from the young Doret. The Kid with a Bike is a movie that is hard to find fault with.
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
05/27/23
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tupac p
Great movie, nice acting by the boy, and others too, but so nice for boy.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
03/30/23
Full Review
William L
A critically-acclaimed drama with the particularly complex message of, "Gosh, it sure does suck when your parents don't love you, huh?"
This naturalistic Dardenne Brothers drama takes on adolescent abandonment as if it were a swirling whirpool, where shock and confusion leads to uncontrollable emotional outbursts, which in turn only further inhibit any chance at a normal life. The script crafts a main character who is clearly vulnerable and lashing out, with Thomas Doret's Cyril patterning on the closest thing to a male authority figure he can find once his father makes it clear that he has no intention of raising him. The performances were all pretty good matches for the material and seem to carry some sincerity. And despite all that, The Kid with a Bike feels powerful only in its careful display of circumstantial cruelty and anger (hammered home by a surprising and solid ending); but for most of its runtime, it feels like an Italian Neorealist film that came out 60 years too late and happens to feature a particularly annoying protagonist.
And dang, when this twelve-year-old kid lightly swings a bat at an apparently healthy adult and his son, they go lights out like Mike Tyson took a swing at them. (2.5/5)
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
03/18/22
Full Review
Audience Member
After his father abandoned him, 11-year-old Cyril has his life put into a tailspin. The story starts off as he keeps relentlessly looking for his bike in hope it leads him to his estranged father. I loved how the Dardennes brothers deceived us into thinking that's how the film plays out for the rest of its runtime. It seemed to me that Cyril will just keep on trying to find his father endlessly to no avail. It turns out, however, that's only how the first third of the film is. But, and to Cyril's dismay, his father wants a new life without him as he think he couldn't manage to take care of his child, having seeing him now as a burden. From that point the plot kicks off. From the first scene where he's determined to call his father despite the phone being out-of-service, Thomas Doret is absolutely brilliant as Cyril as he's trying to be in denial of the fact his father moved away. Then, the news came to forlorn Cyril as a shock, and one could tell he's acting out like a brat lest he gets attached to anyone else, first and foremost his caretaker Samantha (Cécile de France) who's the only person who seems to really care about him and worry about his wellbeing.
Cyril saw Samantha as a mother figure; one who's worthy of trusting and who seems ready to contain him, but that's exactly the problem. Hearing the very person whom he depends upon for his survival, distancing himself from him for good. How traumatising that must be for a child; how his sense of self-worth would implode. So, it makes perfect sense Cyril would do his utmost to not have his heart shattered again by someone like his father. I imagine a different or, say, a parallel trajectory to Cyril's story: his pain would be too great, too huge to feel and he would end up repressing it. Over time, he would dissociate the roots of his trauma, but one day he'd visit that pent-up rage upon anyone who's in the place of his father, so long as he himself would be out-of-reach at that point. Luckily, and comparatively, Cyril is a freewheeling and spontaneous kind of a kid — he's 'The Kid with a Bike.' Cyril's rage is instantly let loose. While that's entailed tragic consequences, which the film painfully chronicles, I think they're, more or less, told as a chapter in Cyril's life that's due to take its course to teach him a lesson, and the narrative being registered as a karmic playback asserts this point to a considerable extent.
Similar to what the Dardennes have done with Sandra (Marion Cotillard) in Two Days, One Night, opting for a narrow focus on the Cyril for almost the entire film makes for a thoroughly engaging and affecting experience without diminishing the significance the secondary characters bear. The Dardennes' sensitive direction explores the touchy subject matter with an empathetic simplicity. It's a film full of nuances you can't help but wonder how accurately in its depiction of a child's trauma. Just keep an eye on how Cyril perceives every shock in his devastating life. Also, similar to said film, the handheld cam is used to lend this film a realistic sense, but is chiefly used here to ratchet up the tension after Cyril gets embroiled in a precarious world rife with crime and exploitation. I have no idea why it's taken me so long to check out another Dardennes' film since I adored Two Days, One Night. Plus, this one centres around a boy neglected by his father and having a hard time coping with that new life of his, and a film of that kind is right up my alley. Glad I finally get to around to seeing it nonetheless, and man did I like it! Aside from a few feel-good bromides one expects to find in a story with a moral value like this, The Kid with a Bike is nearly perfect in my book.
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
02/07/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Another fine work of cinema by the Dardenne brothers. Stellar performances by the young Thomas Doret and by the lovely Cécile de France. You think this is easy, realism? So many directors would be too strong, too ham-fisted with trying to force their points with such a screenplay and the ideas/themes the Dardennes were trying to convey.
Strong camera work, especially the concentration on the physical acts of Cyril, and the bike riding through the streets.
Cyril is one of countless kids left to the state and their own wits (limited as they are at such ages) to manage. Samantha needs Cyril, and is clearly so happy when they're together and he's happy; or at least sedate.
The last scene is one that makes you wonder just how quickly a seemingly decent person can go bad, but also how one who has been an angry, even quite dangerous figure, can learn from his/her great mistake(s) and know it's time to move on and just go home. For Cyril, that is where the love is now, just in time. 3.7 stars
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
01/20/23
Full Review
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