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Le gamin au velo (The Kid with a Bike)
March 20, 2025 at 7 PM CT on Zoom
By Jean-Paul and Luc Dardenne. 2011, 87 minutes
Typical of their considerable body of work, in Le gamin au vélo, les freres Dardenne occupy themselves with the lives of working-class characters in a very un-glamourous part of Belgium, in fact, the very city where they were raised. The film tells the story of an unruly pre-adolescent boy fiercely looking for, and trying to re-connect with, his father. The brothers speak of the film as a sort of fairy tale, and in keeping with that rubric, a woman comes into the boy’s world, offering him (extraordinary) kindness and support to choose and to have the capacity for a positive course in life. The film includes many of the themes associated with the filmmakers—children and parents, people living marginal lives, crime, and moral choices. It also shows the naturalistic and frequently hand-held camerawork characteristic of their style. Two actors who appear in several of their films have small roles—Jeremie Renier and Olivier Gourmet. Le gamin, their 18th feature film, won the Grand Prix at Cannes in 2011.
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