"That Annoying Kid!"

THE KID WITH A BIKE

Original title: Le Gamin au vélo
Year: 2011
Country: Belgium/France/Italy
Language: French
Number: 1094
Written and Directed by: Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne
Starring: Thomas Doret, Cécile De France, Jérémie Renier, Fabrizio Rongione
Cannes Film Festival: Grand Prize of the Jury, Golden Palm

The Dardenne brother's latest film The Kid with a Bike is the story about a 12-year-old boy named Cyril, who's recently been left in an orphanage by his father, who have suddenly disappear without telling Cyril where. Cyril then runs away from the orphanage and goes back to his father's apartment, only to find out that he's left. His father also sold Cyril's bike, which was bought by a woman Cyril meets at the clinic. The woman, Samantha, returns the bike to him, and she also tries to helps Cyril finds his father, and she also get attached to little Cyril and sometimes works as his foster mother.

The Kid with a Bike is a good idyllic indie film, with the great handheld camera, the same naturalism, and the same depth to it's characters. It is so good that I would have given it five stars, but like the Star Wars prequels, it was ruined by a kid. What a story needs to catch my interest, is that the protagonist neexd to be empathic, which in this case the protagonist isn't. Cyril is a restless kid that won't take a break for a second. He's rude. He never listens, and is stubborn. To say it more informal: He's a dick. I can't help it. But overall this film is digestible, and I really liked the other characters, and Cyril seems also to get better, but the first half is unforgivable. Thumbs up.

Grade: B-

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"Twilight in 3D"

LET THE RIGHT ONE IN

Original title: Låt den rätte komma in
Year: 2008
Country: Sweden
Language: Swedish
Number: 1071
Director: Tomas Alfredson
Starring: Kåre Hedebrant, Lina Leandersson, Per Ragnar, Henrik Dahl

Forget Twilight, True Blood and all the other gay vampires, and watch the Swedish vampire flick "Let the Right One In" by Tomas Alfredson instead. In this film we follow the twelve-year-old boy, Oskar who's an outcast, who the other kids always bullying and hits. On the playground one evening where he lives, he meets a girl named Eli, a thin and ice cold child, who's also his new neighbor. And what's worse, is that she's a vampire which means that's she feeds on blood in order to survive, and it's her father who has to kill innocent people and tap their blood, so that his daughter don't have to draw suspicion by doing the killing herself.

Yes, there's a love story between Oskar and Eli, but it's loaded with so much innocence because they are kids. I love that the director tells us so little. The word vampire is barely mentioned. It's a sad story about two outcasts, which is the opposite case with Twilight where it's a forced love story with nothing but sexual attraction that is displayed in five movies. We know that Oskar and Eli belongs together and it's clear from the start, but they can't be together, which is a real tragedy, which is sad. While Bella and Edvard on the other hand gets a designer house in the middle of the forrest. I also like the tone of the film, and the cinematography of an ice cold Sweden. And there's a lot of satisfying violence as well. A vampire movie as it should be. Thumbs up.

Grade: B+

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