Every time I go into a Dardenne Brothers movie, I have to prepare myself. I know it’s going to be slow and I know I’m probably going to be a bit drained. This can lead to some really great films but never an experience I can have every weekend.
Part of it is because they create films with such strong senses of reality and how difficult life can be. They feel like documentarians with the way they seem to be observing moments instead of creating them. In "The Kid with a Bike," young Cyril (Thomas Doret) only wants to have a relationship with his father. It’s heartbreaking to see him go through so much work just to figure out where his father could be living. It was a month ago when he was dropped off at foster care, and his father swore it would just be a month.
This is Doret’s first film role and he’s a natural. I don’t want to find any interviews to see how much of Cyril is Doret. All of his moments of frustration seem to come from a real place from the actor and the storytellers.
Cyril keeps talking about how his father must be around because his dad still has his bike. There is no way his father would abandon it or sell it, even when all the evidence points to the contrary. This bike is Cyril’s only true possession. It grants him mobility over the area, but as he bounces around searching for any sort of loyalty, this bike is his only constant.
The heartbreaking thing is seeing how damaged Cyril is by all of this constant abandonment. He can’t express his frustration except for trying to run as far as he can. He meets a kind woman, Samantha (Cécile de France from "Hereafter"), who agrees to take him in on the weekends. Cyril has been without a proper parent for so long he can’t really comprehend what she’s doing when she’s trying to keep him from running away.
Once again, the Dardennes Brothers make it work. They have told an incredibly sympathetic story told through harsh reality. I’m thrilled this is opening in Indianapolis because although it's a style that may seem off-putting, the richness of its characters makes "The Kid with a Bike" more relatable than one would ever realize.