Another slice of lower-class life from Belgium's Dardenne brothers, The Kid with a Bike focuses on Cyril (Thomas Doret), an 11-year-old whose future abandonment issues we witness being seared into him. Disregarded by every male figure in his life—his father, his foster mother’s boyfriend, the slick-haired street tough who recruits him for a robbery—he is left to survive alone in a boy’s school until literally falling into the arms of a local hairdresser. International cineastes already know of the Dardennes’ warm, realist touch, but the revelation here is Doret. He plays Cyril as a bomb not waiting to explode but silently begging to be defused.
Special Note
Living Room Theaters- Genres: Drama
- Running Time: 87 minutes
- Release Date: Wednesday, May 18, 2011
- Country: Belgium
- Language: French
- Critic's Score: B+
- Starring: Cécile de France [Samantha], Jérémie Renier [Guy Catoul], Fabrizio Rongione [Le libraire], Olivier Gourmet [Le patron du bar], Thomas Doret [Cyril Catoul], Egon Di Mateo [Wes], Batiste Sornin [Educateur 1], Samuel De Rijk [Educateur 2], Carl Jadot [L'instituteur], Claudy Delfosse [L'homme gare de bus], Jean-Michel Balthazar [Le voisin Val Polet], Frédéric Dussenne [Le concierge]
- Directed by: Jean-Pierre Dardenne [Director], Luc Dardenne [Director], Jean-Pierre Dardenne [Screenwriter], Luc Dardenne [Screenwriter], Delphine Tomson [Executive Producer], Jean-Pierre Dardenne [Producer], Luc Dardenne [Producer], Denis Freyd [Producer], Alain Marcoen [Cinematographer], Maira Lévy [Costume Designer]
- Watch the trailer

The Kid With a Bike