Review No.55: The Kid with a Bike

Already in this blog I have spoken of my love of Wolverhampton's independent cinema Light House however so far this year I've only been twice. Thankfully my third visit came this week and was certainly the most arthouse film I've seen at the cinema so far - The Kid with a Bike. The film is directed by the Dardenne brothers who have won accolades for their earlier films including The Son and The Child with this film gaining similar buzz on the awards circuit. It concerns 12 year old Cyril a boy who has been put into a home by his father who is unable to look after him and after discovering that his father has moved Cyril lashes out refusing to believe that his father sold his bike. With the help of hairdresser Samantha he regains his bike and finds his dad however he later discovers that his father wants nothing to do with him so he is taken in by Samantha. Cyril is then taken under the wing of a local gang leader, known as The Dealer, who impresses him with his video games and also helps him to repair his bike. Cyril is convinced by The Dealer to rob a newsagents and attacks both the owner of the establishment and his son with a baseball bat before fleeing with the money. At the end of the film some things work out and some don't but saying anything more would be telling.

I went into this film with an open mind having been aware but not actually seeing any of the previous work from the Dardenne Brothers. The result was a very tender portrayal of a young life that hadn't been nurtured with a father who was unable to step up to his responsibilities and other authority figures at the home seen as foes rather than friends. What I like about The Kid with a Bike is that very little is explained about Cyril's backstory we know nothing of his mother and only that his father couldn't look after him once his grandmother had passed away. Samantha's background is also given little detail and we never really find out the motives of her wanting to take Cyril under her wing my guess was that she couldn't have children herself. The relationship between the two is greatly performed by Thomas Doret and Cecile De France as Cyril lets down his defence to let her in. Doret also is able to convey why The Dealer is able to win Cyril round so easily as he is the first male figure to ever complement him and treat him kindly so he is more easy to manipulate when the time comes to pull of the robbery. Alain Marcoen's cinematography catches the quiet moments from the characters and lets the actors give very physical performances throughout. Personally I felt the action dipped after Cyril discovered that his father wanted nothing to do with him and only got going again after the robbery scenes but I was definitely emotionally invested in the characters throughout as I could feel myself willing Cyril to be alright in the final scenes.

Verdict: A well-directed film about why some young people are so hard to control that did slightly dip in the middle but as it had two great performances I will award it 8/10