Two debut features in writer-director Antoine Russbach’s “Those Who Work” and Anja Kofmel’s animated documentary “Chris the Swiss,” were the big winners at Friday night’s Swiss Film Awards, notching three plaudits each.
Sold by Be For Films, “Those Who Work,” stars Belgian actor Olivier Gourmet, who has appeared in every single film by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne since 1996’s “La Promesse,” to winning a Cannes best actor award for 2002’s “The Son.” In Russbach’s film Gourmet plays Frank, a 50-something fixer for a company which rents out cargo ships. On a busy day, to prevent a ship being put into quarantine, he rashly orders a stowaway be thrown overboard to certain death. The decision gets him fired, not for moral reasons, but in the hopes of avoiding a media scandal.
The film scooped the awards for best fiction feature, best screenplay and best performance in a supporting role,...
Sold by Be For Films, “Those Who Work,” stars Belgian actor Olivier Gourmet, who has appeared in every single film by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne since 1996’s “La Promesse,” to winning a Cannes best actor award for 2002’s “The Son.” In Russbach’s film Gourmet plays Frank, a 50-something fixer for a company which rents out cargo ships. On a busy day, to prevent a ship being put into quarantine, he rashly orders a stowaway be thrown overboard to certain death. The decision gets him fired, not for moral reasons, but in the hopes of avoiding a media scandal.
The film scooped the awards for best fiction feature, best screenplay and best performance in a supporting role,...
- 3/22/2019
- by Jamie Lang
- Variety Film + TV
Locarno, Switzerland — Belgium was the making of Antoine Russbach, director of “Those Who Work,” the highest-profile Swiss debut world premiering at this year’s Locarno Festival, in its Filmmakers of the Present.
Born in Switzerland’s Geneva, Russbach studied at the Institut des Arts de Diffusion, about 19 miles south-east of Brussels, and spent his twenties in Belgium, before moving back home to Switzerland. At the Iad he made friends, such as France’s Emmanuel Marre, whose short, “The Summer Movie,” was one highlight at this year’s UniFrance MyFrenchFilmFestival, and who co-wrote “Those Who Work” with Russbach.
Sold by Be For Films, Russbach’s debut also stars Belgian actor Olivier Gourmet, who has appeared in every single film by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne from 1996’s “La Promesse,” to winning a Cannes best actor award for 2002’s “The Son.” In Belgium, Russbach says he, “learned to make very naturalistic, realistic movies,...
Born in Switzerland’s Geneva, Russbach studied at the Institut des Arts de Diffusion, about 19 miles south-east of Brussels, and spent his twenties in Belgium, before moving back home to Switzerland. At the Iad he made friends, such as France’s Emmanuel Marre, whose short, “The Summer Movie,” was one highlight at this year’s UniFrance MyFrenchFilmFestival, and who co-wrote “Those Who Work” with Russbach.
Sold by Be For Films, Russbach’s debut also stars Belgian actor Olivier Gourmet, who has appeared in every single film by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne from 1996’s “La Promesse,” to winning a Cannes best actor award for 2002’s “The Son.” In Belgium, Russbach says he, “learned to make very naturalistic, realistic movies,...
- 8/3/2018
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Handling more films than any other international sales agent at this year’s Locarno Festival, Europe’s biggest mid-summer film event, Brussels-based B For Films will represent new films by Bettina Oberli, one of Switzerland’s most popular cineasts, Canadian Philippe Lesage’s return to A-fest international competition after debut “The Demons” dazzled at San Sebastian, and Antoine Russbach’s first feature, the highest-profile Swiss debut this year at the Swiss festival.
The two Swiss titles are for “no special reason,” said B For Films Pamela Lau, who set up the sales company with pan-European sales-financing-production company Playtime.
But Lau recognized that Be For Films has been approached by Swiss producers since the success of Lisa Brühlmann’s “Blue My Mind,”which sold 15 territories off a San Sebastian Festival world premiere last year.
Only about half B For Films’ titles are Belgian, and often minority co-productions. Reteaming Lesage with producer...
The two Swiss titles are for “no special reason,” said B For Films Pamela Lau, who set up the sales company with pan-European sales-financing-production company Playtime.
But Lau recognized that Be For Films has been approached by Swiss producers since the success of Lisa Brühlmann’s “Blue My Mind,”which sold 15 territories off a San Sebastian Festival world premiere last year.
Only about half B For Films’ titles are Belgian, and often minority co-productions. Reteaming Lesage with producer...
- 7/18/2018
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Those with any standing interest in the Dardenne brothers are well aware that The Unknown Girl is not a standard project, at least in how it’s traveled from creation to release. Breaking their long-standing one-every-three-years tradition, premiering but two (two!) years after Two Days, One Night, is one thing, and a forgivable thing at that had it earned the critical plaudits and awards handed them every single go-round. That it hobbled out of Cannes with, at best, “friendly” notices (if that) and nothing else in tow is, in and of itself, enough, but then the perfectionist pair went and reedited the film on account of these issues. Are some of the world’s most acclaimed filmmakers handing us a damaged object?
To my mind, no. The Unknown Girl is über-Dardenne brothers, a seemingly slight detective story collapsing nearly innumerable aesthetic, formal, and thematic interests into a warm embrace, reminding...
To my mind, no. The Unknown Girl is über-Dardenne brothers, a seemingly slight detective story collapsing nearly innumerable aesthetic, formal, and thematic interests into a warm embrace, reminding...
- 9/6/2017
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Photo by Darren HughesThe Unknown Girl opens with a handheld close up of Dr. Jenny (Adèle Haenel) examining a patient. “Listen,” she says, handing her stethoscope to Julien (Olivier Bonnaud), a medical student who is interning at her clinic. Never ones to shy away from a glaring metaphor, Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne announce in that brief exchange their film’s driving thematic and formal concerns. When Jenny later learns that her decision to not allow a late-night visitor into the clinic might have contributed to the young woman’s death, she puts her skills and training to new purpose: listening for clues that might help solve the murder.The Unknown Girl differs from the Dardennes’ previous fiction films only in its more obviously generic plotting. This seems to have contributed to the uncharacteristically mixed reviews that greeted the film at its 2016 Cannes premiere, where it was faulted for failing to...
- 8/29/2017
- MUBI
Any list of the greatest foreign directors currently working today has to include Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne. The directors first rose to prominence in the mid 1990s with efforts like “The Promise” and “Rosetta,” and they’ve continued to excel in the 21st century with titles such as “The Kid With A Bike” and “Two Days One Night,” which earned Marion Cotillard a Best Actress Oscar nomination.
Read MoreThe Dardenne Brothers’ Next Film Will Be a Terrorism Drama
The directors will be back in U.S. theaters with the release of “The Unknown Girl” on September 8, which is a long time coming considering the film first premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2016. While you continue to wait for their new movie, the brothers have provided their definitive list of 79 movies from the 20th century that you must see. La Cinetek published the list in full and is hosting many...
Read MoreThe Dardenne Brothers’ Next Film Will Be a Terrorism Drama
The directors will be back in U.S. theaters with the release of “The Unknown Girl” on September 8, which is a long time coming considering the film first premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2016. While you continue to wait for their new movie, the brothers have provided their definitive list of 79 movies from the 20th century that you must see. La Cinetek published the list in full and is hosting many...
- 8/7/2017
- by Zack Sharf
- Indiewire
Nigerian metropolis Lagos is the focus of the eighth City To City showcase at the Toronto International Film Festival (Tiff) as top brass anoint two international Rising Stars.
Tiff’s latest line-up announcement also featured extra selections in Galas and Special Presentations, among them Walter Hill’s (Re)Assignment, Philippe Falardeau’s The Bleeder, David Leveaux’ The Exception (pictured), Ken Loach’s Palme d’Or winner I, Daniel Blake and Terry George’s drama The Promise.
A vibrant crop of Contemporary World Cinema entries includes Kleber Mendonça Filho’s Aquarius, Danis Tanović’s Death In Sarajevo, Marie Noëlle’s Marie Curie, The Courage Of Knowledge and Akin Omotoso’s Vaya.
Hirokazu Kore-eda brings After The Storm to the Masters showcase, alongside Marco Bellocchio’s Sweet Dreams, Pedro Almodóvar’s Julieta, Cristian Mungiu’s Graduation, Gianfranco Rosi’s Berlin Golden Bear winner Fire At Sea and Adoor Gopalakrishnan’s Once Again.
Rounding out the...
Tiff’s latest line-up announcement also featured extra selections in Galas and Special Presentations, among them Walter Hill’s (Re)Assignment, Philippe Falardeau’s The Bleeder, David Leveaux’ The Exception (pictured), Ken Loach’s Palme d’Or winner I, Daniel Blake and Terry George’s drama The Promise.
A vibrant crop of Contemporary World Cinema entries includes Kleber Mendonça Filho’s Aquarius, Danis Tanović’s Death In Sarajevo, Marie Noëlle’s Marie Curie, The Courage Of Knowledge and Akin Omotoso’s Vaya.
Hirokazu Kore-eda brings After The Storm to the Masters showcase, alongside Marco Bellocchio’s Sweet Dreams, Pedro Almodóvar’s Julieta, Cristian Mungiu’s Graduation, Gianfranco Rosi’s Berlin Golden Bear winner Fire At Sea and Adoor Gopalakrishnan’s Once Again.
Rounding out the...
- 8/16/2016
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
Nigerian capital Lagos is the focus of the eighth City To City showcase at the Toronto International Film Festival (Tiff) as top brass anoint two international Rising Stars.
Tiff’s latest line-up announcement also featured extra selections in Galas and Special Presentations, among them Walter Hill’s (Re)Assignment, Philippe Falardeau’s The Bleeder, David Leveaux’ The Exception (pictured), Ken Loach’s Palme d’Or winner I, Daniel Blake and Terry George’s drama The Promise.
A vibrant crop of Contemporary World Cinema entries includes Kleber Mendonça Filho’s Aquarius, Danis Tanović’s Death In Sarajevo, Marie Noëlle’s Marie Curie, The Courage Of Knowledge and Akin Omotoso’s Vaya.
Hirokazu Kore-eda brings After The Storm to the Masters showcase, alongside Marco Bellocchio’s Sweet Dreams, Pedro Almodóvar’s Julieta, Cristian Mungiu’s Graduation, Gianfranco Rosi’s Berlin Golden Bear winner Fire At Sea and Adoor Gopalakrishnan’s Once Again.
Rounding out the...
Tiff’s latest line-up announcement also featured extra selections in Galas and Special Presentations, among them Walter Hill’s (Re)Assignment, Philippe Falardeau’s The Bleeder, David Leveaux’ The Exception (pictured), Ken Loach’s Palme d’Or winner I, Daniel Blake and Terry George’s drama The Promise.
A vibrant crop of Contemporary World Cinema entries includes Kleber Mendonça Filho’s Aquarius, Danis Tanović’s Death In Sarajevo, Marie Noëlle’s Marie Curie, The Courage Of Knowledge and Akin Omotoso’s Vaya.
Hirokazu Kore-eda brings After The Storm to the Masters showcase, alongside Marco Bellocchio’s Sweet Dreams, Pedro Almodóvar’s Julieta, Cristian Mungiu’s Graduation, Gianfranco Rosi’s Berlin Golden Bear winner Fire At Sea and Adoor Gopalakrishnan’s Once Again.
Rounding out the...
- 8/16/2016
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
The Toronto International Film Festival is mere weeks from kicking off, yet the annual fall fest is showing zero sign of slowing down when it comes to announcing the titles that will round out this year’s event. Today’s announcement brings with it a number of Cannes favorites, including Ken Loach’s Palme d’Or-winning “I, Daniel Blake,” Olivier Assayas’ divisive Kristen Stewart-starring “Personal Shopper” and Pedro Almodovar’s “Julieta.”
Read More: Tiff Reveals First Slate of 2016 Titles, Including ‘Magnificent Seven,’ ‘American Honey,’ ‘La La Land’ and ‘Birth of A Nation’
The slate will also play home to the Dardenne Brothers’ latest, “The Unknown Girl,” which has reportedly been through an edit since it debuted at Cannes earlier this year. Other standouts from Cannes include Kleber Mendonça Filho’s “Aquarius,” Boo Junfeng’s “Apprentice,” Cristian Mungiu’s “Graduation,” Brillante Ma Mendoza’s “Ma’ Rosa” and Cristi Puiu’s “Sieranevada.
Read More: Tiff Reveals First Slate of 2016 Titles, Including ‘Magnificent Seven,’ ‘American Honey,’ ‘La La Land’ and ‘Birth of A Nation’
The slate will also play home to the Dardenne Brothers’ latest, “The Unknown Girl,” which has reportedly been through an edit since it debuted at Cannes earlier this year. Other standouts from Cannes include Kleber Mendonça Filho’s “Aquarius,” Boo Junfeng’s “Apprentice,” Cristian Mungiu’s “Graduation,” Brillante Ma Mendoza’s “Ma’ Rosa” and Cristi Puiu’s “Sieranevada.
- 8/16/2016
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
The Dardenne Brothers always write and direct their films at a steady clip, often releasing their films in three- or four-year intervals. Their latest film “The Unknown Girl,” about a doctor who sets out to find the identity of an unknown young woman who died after she was refused surgery, premiered at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Now, Variety reports that Luc Dardenne says that the duo are set to make their next film, which will be about the rise of terrorism in Europe. “We are writing the script now, and hope to shoot it in Belgium by the fall of next year,” says the Dardenne brother.
Read More: Cannes Review: ‘The Unknown Girl’ is Dardenne Brothers Doing a Detective Movie
Luc Dardenne is currently at the 20th Lima Film Festival as they are paying tribute to his film work. As part of the tribute, Lima is screening a section of the Dardennes’ films,...
Read More: Cannes Review: ‘The Unknown Girl’ is Dardenne Brothers Doing a Detective Movie
Luc Dardenne is currently at the 20th Lima Film Festival as they are paying tribute to his film work. As part of the tribute, Lima is screening a section of the Dardennes’ films,...
- 8/11/2016
- by Vikram Murthi
- Indiewire
War in the Middle East has been covered ad nauseam on the big screen, but while the majority of releases that opt to tackle this sensitive topic — including Oscar winner The Hurt Locker — tend to center on the visceral nature of battle and the psychological effects that the experience has on members of the military, few use the circumstances of war in a foreign land as a device to raise spiritual and religious questions as directly as Neither Heaven Nor Earth. In that regard, the film — now playing in select theaters — is undoubtedly a triumph, despite the divisiveness it is likely to elicit from viewers.
Jérémie Renier — whose own name bears a striking resemblance to The Hurt Locker star Jeremy Renner, coincidentally enough — stars in this French Belgian release as Capitaine Antarès Bonassieu, leader of a battalion of French troops stationed within Afghanistan’s Wakhan District in 2014. As Bonassieu and...
Jérémie Renier — whose own name bears a striking resemblance to The Hurt Locker star Jeremy Renner, coincidentally enough — stars in this French Belgian release as Capitaine Antarès Bonassieu, leader of a battalion of French troops stationed within Afghanistan’s Wakhan District in 2014. As Bonassieu and...
- 8/5/2016
- by Robert Yaniz Jr.
- We Got This Covered
If you don’t like the result of something — or if others don’t — do it again. That seems to be the approach by directing brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne with their most recent feature The Unknown Girl, which rounded Cannes with mixed reviews, including our own. After a slew of successes — including Two Days, One Night, The Promise, The Kid With A Bike, and Rosetta — The Unknown Girl stands out rather glaringly as an anomaly for the pair.
Screen Daily reports that the Palme d’Or-winning duo sat down with their editor to make minor tweaks to The Unknown Girl, only to realize a more extensive revision felt right. Now, 32 cuts have been made to the film about a young doctor who is propelled to uncover the identity of a patient who died after refusing treatment. This new cut will run seven minutes shorter — the original cut ran 1 hour...
Screen Daily reports that the Palme d’Or-winning duo sat down with their editor to make minor tweaks to The Unknown Girl, only to realize a more extensive revision felt right. Now, 32 cuts have been made to the film about a young doctor who is propelled to uncover the identity of a patient who died after refusing treatment. This new cut will run seven minutes shorter — the original cut ran 1 hour...
- 6/28/2016
- by Mike Mazzanti
- The Film Stage
In the 20 years since their breakthrough, The Promise, Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne have made seven features, all of which ranged from great to sublime, won two Palme d’Ors as well as countless other accolades, and pretty much invented – or at least perfected – a style of social realism so influential and widely imitated that their trademark shaky, over-the-shoulder-cam has become a cliché of the genre. It seemed like the Belgian brothers were incapable of failure. Enter The Unknown Girl, which a charitable viewer might describe as the Dardennes on auto-pilot.
The plot point that kick-starts the narrative is a straightforward one: Jenny (Adèle Haenel), a young doctor working in the Dardennes’ usual stomping ground of Seraing, is in her practice an hour after closing time. There is a buzz on the door, which she ignores, reasoning that if it were an emergency the person would buzz again. In the morning the police arrive.
The plot point that kick-starts the narrative is a straightforward one: Jenny (Adèle Haenel), a young doctor working in the Dardennes’ usual stomping ground of Seraing, is in her practice an hour after closing time. There is a buzz on the door, which she ignores, reasoning that if it were an emergency the person would buzz again. In the morning the police arrive.
- 5/18/2016
- by Giovanni Marchini Camia
- The Film Stage
Two Days, One Night
Written and directed by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne
Belgium/France/Italy, 2014
Are there any filmmakers working today with a better recent track record than Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne? From their 1996 feature La Promesse, to Two Days, One Night (2014), available now on a new Criterion Collection Blu-ray, the writing/directing duo have made seven classics of contemporary world cinema in a row, all of which were also among the best of their respective year of release. There have been six films up for the Palme d’Or, resulting in two wins (as well as five other Cannes awards), five César nominations, a host of critical accolades, and dozens of other honors spanning the globe (though curiously, no Oscar love for the brothers). Two Days, One Night, itself the winner of 40 international awards, is just the latest to follow this exceptional trend. It’s a film utterly unique in so many ways,...
Written and directed by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne
Belgium/France/Italy, 2014
Are there any filmmakers working today with a better recent track record than Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne? From their 1996 feature La Promesse, to Two Days, One Night (2014), available now on a new Criterion Collection Blu-ray, the writing/directing duo have made seven classics of contemporary world cinema in a row, all of which were also among the best of their respective year of release. There have been six films up for the Palme d’Or, resulting in two wins (as well as five other Cannes awards), five César nominations, a host of critical accolades, and dozens of other honors spanning the globe (though curiously, no Oscar love for the brothers). Two Days, One Night, itself the winner of 40 international awards, is just the latest to follow this exceptional trend. It’s a film utterly unique in so many ways,...
- 9/1/2015
- by Jeremy Carr
- SoundOnSight
Cannes – The injustices of the workplace and the basic but tenuous dignity of being able to earn a living have been frequent themes in the films of Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, going back to their early breakthroughs with The Promise and Rosetta. Their latest affecting drama, Two Days, One Night, chronicles the weekend-long crusade of a working-class woman, played with piercing emotional transparency by Marion Cotillard, to reverse a decision regarding the termination of her employment. Once again, it's enriched by signature qualities – the humanistic, nonjudgmental gaze, the absence of sentimentality, the ultra-naturalistic style
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- 5/20/2014
- by David Rooney
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Welcome back to Cannes Check, In Contention's annual preview of the films in Competition at next month's Cannes Film Festival, which kicks off on May 14. Taking on different selections every day, we'll be examining what they're about, who's involved and what their chances are of snagging an award from Jane Campion's jury. Next up: Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne's "Two Days, One Night." The directors: Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne (Belgian, 63 and 60 years old). World cinema's favorite fraternal directing duo, and the pre-eminent figures in Belgium's spotty filmmaking history, the pair grew up in the French-speaking Wallonia district, studied drama and philosophy respectively, and co-founded the Derives documentary production company in 1977 -- it stands to this day. After a decade of non-fiction work, they made their first narrative feature, "Falsch," in 1987; their third feature, 1996's "La Promesse," proved the breakthrough, premiering at Toronto, winning a couple of major Us critics' awards,...
- 5/1/2014
- by Guy Lodge
- Hitfix
With a filmography spanning nearly 4 decades, Belgian filmmakers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne have made a name for themselves in the international film community. With movies such as La Promesse, L’Enfant, and The Kid With a Bike, many were curious to see what the brothers would do next, anticipation that increased with the news that the duo was working on their first new feature since 2011. Titled Two Days, One Night, or Deux jours, une nuit, the film stars Marion Cotillard, Olivier Gourmet, and Catherine Salée. Ahead of the film’s premiere at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, the first trailer has been released, and can be seen below.
(Source: Thompson on Hollywood)
The post ‘Two Days, One Night’, from the Dardenne Brothers, releases its first trailer appeared first on Sound On Sight.
(Source: Thompson on Hollywood)
The post ‘Two Days, One Night’, from the Dardenne Brothers, releases its first trailer appeared first on Sound On Sight.
- 4/17/2014
- by Deepayan Sengupta
- SoundOnSight
Logan Marshall-Green (Prometheus), Cannes Film Festival Best Actor Winner and Cesar Award nominee Olivier Gourmet (The Son) and Laura Carmichael (“Downton Abbey”) have joined the all-star cast of Madame Bovary featuring Mia Wasikowska (Alice In Wonderland, Jane Eyre), Ezra Miller (The Perks Of Being A Wallflower, We Need To Talk About Kevin), Academy-Award nominee Paul Giamatti (Cinderella Man, Sideways), Rhys Ifans (The Amazing Spider-man) and Henry Lloyd-Hughes (Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire, Anna Karenina).
Principal photography on the film commences on September 30th on location in Normandy, France.
Madame Bovary tells the tragic story of Emma (Wasikowska), a young beauty who impulsively marries a small-town doctor to leave her father’s pig farm behind. But after being introduced to the glamorous world of high society, she soon becomes bored with her stodgy mate and seeks excitement and status outside the bonds of marriage.
Sophie Barthes (Cold Souls) directs...
Principal photography on the film commences on September 30th on location in Normandy, France.
Madame Bovary tells the tragic story of Emma (Wasikowska), a young beauty who impulsively marries a small-town doctor to leave her father’s pig farm behind. But after being introduced to the glamorous world of high society, she soon becomes bored with her stodgy mate and seeks excitement and status outside the bonds of marriage.
Sophie Barthes (Cold Souls) directs...
- 9/30/2013
- by Melissa Thompson
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Chicago – All this fuss about Ben Affleck not getting nominated by the Academy after directing three decent flicks is even more inane in light of the fact that Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, arguably the greatest directing duo in modern cinema, haven’t garnered any Oscar attention. At all. Their latest naturalistic triumph, “The Kid with a Bike,” snagged a mere Golden Globe nod several months before it even premiered on U.S. screens.
The alleged edge-of-your-seat suspense in “Argo” has all the tautness of a snail race compared to the blistering tension conjured by the Dardenne Brothers as their camera confines the audience within the solitude, desperation and mounting dread of their troubled protagonists. “The Kid with a Bike” is the Dardennes’ most excruciatingly suspenseful and emotionally galvanizing effort since their 1996 breakthrough, “La Promesse.” Both films center on self-sufficient boys in danger of deteriorating into destructive products of their environment,...
The alleged edge-of-your-seat suspense in “Argo” has all the tautness of a snail race compared to the blistering tension conjured by the Dardenne Brothers as their camera confines the audience within the solitude, desperation and mounting dread of their troubled protagonists. “The Kid with a Bike” is the Dardennes’ most excruciatingly suspenseful and emotionally galvanizing effort since their 1996 breakthrough, “La Promesse.” Both films center on self-sufficient boys in danger of deteriorating into destructive products of their environment,...
- 2/21/2013
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
There’s an extraordinary moment in Rosetta, the Dardenne Brothers’ Palme d’Or winning slice of grungy life from 1999. About 22 minutes in, Emilie Dequenne’s sooty faced street urchin turns her ballistics up to eleven, and savagely cusses out her mother’s would-be John, then immediately greets her romantic interest by tearing him off his moped and trying to kick the living snot out of him. It’s a stunning display of unfocused rage, and firmly establishes Rosetta as a young woman capable of shockingly violent hysteria; a baby-faced waif consumed by anger and frustration that’s set on a hair trigger.
The Dardennes’ latest, The Kid with a Bike, is a grueling 87 minutes of such moments, as the Brothers reassert their mastery of desperate stories about screwed up young people. Set once again in the environs of Liege, Belgium, the film introduces us to, and quickly immerses us in,...
The Dardennes’ latest, The Kid with a Bike, is a grueling 87 minutes of such moments, as the Brothers reassert their mastery of desperate stories about screwed up young people. Set once again in the environs of Liege, Belgium, the film introduces us to, and quickly immerses us in,...
- 2/12/2013
- by admin
- IONCINEMA.com
Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: Feb. 12, 2013
Price: DVD $29.99, Blu-ray $39.99
Studio: Criterion
Thomas Doret takes it underground in The Kid with a Bike.
The Kid With a Bike is a 2011 drama film from the great Belgian directors Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne (La Promesse, Rosetta).
In the movie, 12-year-old Cyril (Thomas Doret), all coiled anger and furious motion, is living in a group home but refuses to believe he has been rejected by his single father (Jérémie Renier, Summer Hours). He spends his days frantically trying to reach the man, over the phone or on his beloved bicycle. It is only the patience and compassion of Samantha (Cécile de France, Hereafter), the stranger who agrees to care for him, that offers the boy the chance to move on.
Well-received by the critics, who noted that it was spare and unsentimental but genuinely tender, the PG-13-rated The Kid With a Bike enjoyed film...
Price: DVD $29.99, Blu-ray $39.99
Studio: Criterion
Thomas Doret takes it underground in The Kid with a Bike.
The Kid With a Bike is a 2011 drama film from the great Belgian directors Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne (La Promesse, Rosetta).
In the movie, 12-year-old Cyril (Thomas Doret), all coiled anger and furious motion, is living in a group home but refuses to believe he has been rejected by his single father (Jérémie Renier, Summer Hours). He spends his days frantically trying to reach the man, over the phone or on his beloved bicycle. It is only the patience and compassion of Samantha (Cécile de France, Hereafter), the stranger who agrees to care for him, that offers the boy the chance to move on.
Well-received by the critics, who noted that it was spare and unsentimental but genuinely tender, the PG-13-rated The Kid With a Bike enjoyed film...
- 1/15/2013
- by Laurence
- Disc Dish
By Allen Gardner
Quadrophenia (Criterion) Franc Roddam’s 1979 film based on The Who’s classic rock opera tells the story of working class lad Jimmy (Phil Daniels) struggling to find his identity in a rapidly changing Britain, circa 1965. Jimmy is a “mod,” a youth movement dedicated to wearing snappy suits, driving Vespa motor scooters bedecked with side mirrors, popping amphetamines and obsessed with the new sound of bands like The Who and The Kinks. Their other pastime is engaging in bloody brawls with “rockers,” throwbacks to the 1950s, who listen to Elvis and Gene Vincent, wear leather biker gear, grease in their hair and drive massive motorcycles a la Marlon Brando in “The Wild One.” Often cited as a worthy successor to “Rebel Without a Cause” as the greatest angry youth picture ever made, it is that and more, including a first cousin to the “kitchen sink” dramas of scribes John Osborne,...
Quadrophenia (Criterion) Franc Roddam’s 1979 film based on The Who’s classic rock opera tells the story of working class lad Jimmy (Phil Daniels) struggling to find his identity in a rapidly changing Britain, circa 1965. Jimmy is a “mod,” a youth movement dedicated to wearing snappy suits, driving Vespa motor scooters bedecked with side mirrors, popping amphetamines and obsessed with the new sound of bands like The Who and The Kinks. Their other pastime is engaging in bloody brawls with “rockers,” throwbacks to the 1950s, who listen to Elvis and Gene Vincent, wear leather biker gear, grease in their hair and drive massive motorcycles a la Marlon Brando in “The Wild One.” Often cited as a worthy successor to “Rebel Without a Cause” as the greatest angry youth picture ever made, it is that and more, including a first cousin to the “kitchen sink” dramas of scribes John Osborne,...
- 9/4/2012
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
Chicago – When a film has gotten viewers so invested in a character’s plight that it prompts them to shout at the screen, it’s clear that they are in the hands of a master filmmaker. Consider the legendary stories from the initial theatrical run of Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho,” when audiences found themselves screaming at Vera Miles to not investigate the fruit cellar, where her imminent doom appeared to be waiting.
After helming six celebrated narrative features, the Belgian brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne have proven to be masters of suspense in their own right. Though their films often run only a hair over 90 minutes, they leave the audience feeling drained. By the time they reach their third act, I always find myself perched on the edge of my seat while my holding my breath with the hope that no harm will come to the protagonists. Yet while Hitch...
After helming six celebrated narrative features, the Belgian brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne have proven to be masters of suspense in their own right. Though their films often run only a hair over 90 minutes, they leave the audience feeling drained. By the time they reach their third act, I always find myself perched on the edge of my seat while my holding my breath with the hope that no harm will come to the protagonists. Yet while Hitch...
- 8/28/2012
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Welcome to Criterion Corner, where the movies love you back. A column dedicated to the wide and wonderful world of the Criterion Collection, Criterion Corner runs reviews of New Criterion releases, as well as various features pertaining to Criterion culture. Follow @CriterionCorner and the Criterion Corner Tumblr for daily updates! #620 La Promesse (dir. Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne) 1996 #621 Rosetta (dir. Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne) 1999 The Films: “Cinema is not obligatory.” That’s what Jean-Pierre Dardenne told his brother, Luc, when their careers as filmmakers seemed to be stalling out in the early 1990s. Their transition from competent but (commercially unsuccessful) documentary work to feature-length fictions was not...
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- 8/19/2012
- by David Ehrlich
- Movies.com
La Promesse, newly released on Blu-ray by Criterion, introduced the world to the filmmaking team of Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, and their patented brand of realism on steroids. Produced during the booming economy of 1996, La Promesse, is a contemporary story of dissipated dreams and crumbling morals, told amid an unrelenting atmosphere of dank squalor. Against this unlikely backdrop, a troubled teenager unearths his own deeply buried moral compass, and transforms the dingy streets and narrow alleyways of his life into a new path to a world of human decency.
The plight of newly arrived immigrants, a favorite topic of the Dardenne Brothers, is the driving theme here, as we meet Igor (Jérémie Renier), a 15 year old who divides his time between apprenticing as a mechanic and helping his father (Olivier Gourmet) in the family business. But that endeavor is a dodgy one, involving the exploitation of undocumented workers through a...
The plight of newly arrived immigrants, a favorite topic of the Dardenne Brothers, is the driving theme here, as we meet Igor (Jérémie Renier), a 15 year old who divides his time between apprenticing as a mechanic and helping his father (Olivier Gourmet) in the family business. But that endeavor is a dodgy one, involving the exploitation of undocumented workers through a...
- 8/14/2012
- by David Anderson
- IONCINEMA.com
Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: Aug. 14, 2012
Price: DVD $29.95 each, Blu-ray $39.95 each
Studio: Criterion
A teenager comes to understand the implications of his father's crafty ways in La Promesse.
Brothers Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne, the Belgian filmmaking team that emerged on the international cinema stage in the late 1990s, earn the Criterion imprimatur with the release of two of their breakthrough works, La Promesse and Rosetta.
La Promesse (1996) brought the brothers’ renowned eye for detail and compassion for those on society’s lowest rungs to the eyes of the arthouse circuit. It’s a drama that follows a teenager (Summer Hours’ Jérémie Renier) as he gradually comes to understand the implications of his father’s making a living off of illegal alien workers. Filmed in the Dardennes’ industrial hometown of Seraing, Belgium, it’s been lauded as a fine and observant tale of a boy’s troubled moral awakening.
The DVD and...
Price: DVD $29.95 each, Blu-ray $39.95 each
Studio: Criterion
A teenager comes to understand the implications of his father's crafty ways in La Promesse.
Brothers Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne, the Belgian filmmaking team that emerged on the international cinema stage in the late 1990s, earn the Criterion imprimatur with the release of two of their breakthrough works, La Promesse and Rosetta.
La Promesse (1996) brought the brothers’ renowned eye for detail and compassion for those on society’s lowest rungs to the eyes of the arthouse circuit. It’s a drama that follows a teenager (Summer Hours’ Jérémie Renier) as he gradually comes to understand the implications of his father’s making a living off of illegal alien workers. Filmed in the Dardennes’ industrial hometown of Seraing, Belgium, it’s been lauded as a fine and observant tale of a boy’s troubled moral awakening.
The DVD and...
- 6/20/2012
- by Laurence
- Disc Dish
I became enamored of Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne’s work when I saw their devastating film La Promesse in 1996. I’ve followed their careers ever since, and while I don’t love everything they do, when they hit the mark they create understated but deeply moving dramas that are uniquely their own. The Kid with a Bike is their latest effort and it is among their best. Like most Dardenne films, this one takes place in their home town in Belgium and has an almost documentary-like feel. They never “comment” on the action, allowing us to respond as we choose. From the opening moments, we are drawn into the life of a boy who is bursting with anger. We meet him...
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- 3/15/2012
- by Leonard Maltin
- Leonard Maltin's Movie Crazy
Life is teaching some lousy lessons to Cyril, an abandoned 11-year-old boy who can’t wrap his head around the fact that his single father has not only ditched him but, worse, sold his bicycle. Cyril (Thomas Doret) is the pint-sized protagonist of “The Kid With a Bike,” an achingly heartfelt drama from directors-writers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, the Belgian brothers with a string of impressive art house credits, including “La Promesse” and “L’Enfant.” “Bike,” their latest -- like their other films, it’s set in a world of working class hurt -- won...
- 3/15/2012
- by Leah Rozen
- The Wrap
Brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne
In recent years, “Dardenne-like” has become a favorite descriptor of international film critics. If a film features an economical, but emotionally complex narrative, a naturalistic approach to filmmaking and a penchant for lower class protagonists brought to life mostly by non-professional actors, you can bet somebody somewhere is going to compare it to the work of the Belgian filmmaking duo Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne. As their latest, the Cannes Grand Prix-winning and Spirit Award-nominated The Kid with a Bike, makes its way to theaters nationwide, we had the chance to speak with the much lauded filmmaking brothers about their early years, their working methods and how it feels to become an adjective.
Doug Jones: Film Independent does—among other things, like the Los Angeles Film Festival—a lot of classes and labs for young and emerging filmmakers. So with them in mind, I wanted...
In recent years, “Dardenne-like” has become a favorite descriptor of international film critics. If a film features an economical, but emotionally complex narrative, a naturalistic approach to filmmaking and a penchant for lower class protagonists brought to life mostly by non-professional actors, you can bet somebody somewhere is going to compare it to the work of the Belgian filmmaking duo Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne. As their latest, the Cannes Grand Prix-winning and Spirit Award-nominated The Kid with a Bike, makes its way to theaters nationwide, we had the chance to speak with the much lauded filmmaking brothers about their early years, their working methods and how it feels to become an adjective.
Doug Jones: Film Independent does—among other things, like the Los Angeles Film Festival—a lot of classes and labs for young and emerging filmmakers. So with them in mind, I wanted...
- 3/12/2012
- by Film Independent
- Film Independent
Murder. Suicide. Pedophilia. Prostitution. Just another day at Cannes. The murder came from the very last competition film, Once Upon a time in Anatolia, the longest, most demanding film of the official selection. Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s previous movie was the very accessible, entertaining drama Three Monkeys, but this time around, he returned to his previous style: quiet, bleak, without giving much information. A group of men are driving through the country, looking for a corpse after the murderer has confessed the crime. They can’t find the body and while searching, they engage in what appears to be random chatter. They find the body after 90 minutes, and by this point the audience realizes that most of that apparently pointless talk has major significance, not in the crime itself, but in the different lives of all the men involved in the procedure. This is not an easy film, but if...
- 5/22/2011
- by Ed Lucatero
- SoundOnSight
Updated through 5/19.
"As movie titles go, The Kid with a Bike could hardly be more direct and explicative in its unadorned simplicity," writes David Rooney in the Hollywood Reporter. "Which is a perfect encapsulation of any film by the resolutely unshowy maestros of humanistic portraiture, Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne. Back at the festival that has already crowned them with two Palmes d'Or (for Rosetta in 1999 and The Child in 2005), the Belgian siblings are again at the peak of their powers in this impeccably observed drama."
Glenn Heath Jr at the House Next Door: "An enduring drive propels 11-year-old Cyril (Thomas Dorset) to ignore the writing on the wall that his young father, Guy (Jérémie Renier), has indefinitely left him to the care of a state-run facility. The opening sequence introduces Cyril's durability and directionality, as the boy escapes and heads toward his now abandoned apartment looking for his father and beloved bike.
"As movie titles go, The Kid with a Bike could hardly be more direct and explicative in its unadorned simplicity," writes David Rooney in the Hollywood Reporter. "Which is a perfect encapsulation of any film by the resolutely unshowy maestros of humanistic portraiture, Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne. Back at the festival that has already crowned them with two Palmes d'Or (for Rosetta in 1999 and The Child in 2005), the Belgian siblings are again at the peak of their powers in this impeccably observed drama."
Glenn Heath Jr at the House Next Door: "An enduring drive propels 11-year-old Cyril (Thomas Dorset) to ignore the writing on the wall that his young father, Guy (Jérémie Renier), has indefinitely left him to the care of a state-run facility. The opening sequence introduces Cyril's durability and directionality, as the boy escapes and heads toward his now abandoned apartment looking for his father and beloved bike.
- 5/19/2011
- MUBI
Who knew that a simple premise with all the usual Dardennes Bros. trimmings and trinkets could receive such a favourable critical response? The Cannes V.I.P jacket wearing Belgium duo grab fellow countrymen Cécile de France and elite club member in the Dardenne camp in Jérémie Renier to portray the duel nature of society and our responsibility towards children/those less fortunate with The Kid With a Bike. The young Thomas Doret joins the rankings in Émilie Dequenne (Rosetta), Morgan Marinne (The Son) and Renier himself from La Promesse as a child who has slipped through the cracks, but finds someone to break his fall. Less school of hard knocks as in the majority of their films, it's an encouraging message about how collectively society should be held accountable for its actions. I speak for myself, but I think this is a stronger film than their Palme d'Or winning L'enfant.
- 5/15/2011
- IONCINEMA.com
After last year's elegant Gainsbourg from Joan Sfar, France is giving us yet another musical biopic of a vintage pop star. The upcoming Cloclo, about pop singer Claude François, started shooting on Monday, for a planned 2012 release. In the 60s Claude François turned France upside down with his love for glitter, insane outfits and catchy tunes that made him one of the most successful French singers of all time, even after his sudden death in 1978, at the age of 39. Gist: A former student of Eric Rohmer's, helmet Florient Emilio Siri actually started his career shooting glossy music videos for France's finest hip hop artists before turning to action-packed flicks such as The Nest (2002) and Hostages (2005) starring Bruce Willis. Cloclo will be his sixth directorial effort and mark a definite turn in his career. The biopic will follow the kitsch song-writer as he rises to fame against his father's hopes...
- 3/19/2011
- IONCINEMA.com
Lorna’S Silence (Le silence de Lorna) is the title of this newest film from the filmmaking brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne. The siblings’ films tend to be preoccupied with themes involving unconventional family dynamics and small-time underworld crime, such as The Promise (La promesse, 1996) and The Infant (L’enfant, 2005). Lorna’S Silence is no different, featuring a story similar in theme.
Lorna (Arta Dobroshi) is a young Albanian woman working in Belgium as a dry cleaner. Her dream is to open a small snack bar/cafe with her boyfriend Sokol. In order to pay for this venture, Lorna falls in with Fabio, a taxi driver with underworld connections. Fabio arranges for Lorna to marry a local junkie named Claudy (Jeremie Renier) so that she can acquire Belgian citizenship. Once done, Lorna and Claudy will divorce so that she can marry a Russian mobster who also wishes to obtain Belgian...
Lorna (Arta Dobroshi) is a young Albanian woman working in Belgium as a dry cleaner. Her dream is to open a small snack bar/cafe with her boyfriend Sokol. In order to pay for this venture, Lorna falls in with Fabio, a taxi driver with underworld connections. Fabio arranges for Lorna to marry a local junkie named Claudy (Jeremie Renier) so that she can acquire Belgian citizenship. Once done, Lorna and Claudy will divorce so that she can marry a Russian mobster who also wishes to obtain Belgian...
- 9/4/2009
- by Travis
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Arta Dobroshi In Luc And Jean-pierre Dardenne'S Lorna's Silence. Courtesy Sony Pictures Classics. From Auguste and Louis Lumière onwards, filmmaking partnerships with last names like Coen, Duplass, Hughes, Maysles, Polish, Quay, Wachowski, Taviani, Zellner and Zucker – just to name a few – have been proving that siblings and cinema go well together, and Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne are certainly no exceptions. The Belgian filmmakers, born in Liège in 1951 and 1954 respectively, have been making films as a duo since 1975, when they formed the production company Dérives. After a decade of making documentaries, they shifted to doc-style fiction filmmaking with Falsch (1986), but it was not until La Promesse, about a slum landlord, his son...
- 8/13/2009
- by Nick Dawson
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
By Erica Abeel
Ever since "The Promise" in 1996, the prospect of a new film from Belgian siblings Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne has been cause for rejoicing. Impeccably constructed, uncompromising and emotionally searing, the Dardenne brothers' films give voice to a population often despised or ignored: illegal aliens, slumlords, corrupt officials and smalltime criminals. To their characters the brothers bring a compassionate view born of the understanding this underclass has, in part, been created by society's higher-ups. And though the pair might deny it, their films also suggest an ingrained Christian vision through insisting on the transformative possibility of the most debased being.
"The Silence of Lorna," their latest portrait, which premiered in Cannes, has failed to elicit the rapturous response received by some of the earlier work, such as the 2005 Palme d'Or winner "The Child." Yet despite an exposition that some found lengthy, the Dardennes bring great resonance to this...
Ever since "The Promise" in 1996, the prospect of a new film from Belgian siblings Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne has been cause for rejoicing. Impeccably constructed, uncompromising and emotionally searing, the Dardenne brothers' films give voice to a population often despised or ignored: illegal aliens, slumlords, corrupt officials and smalltime criminals. To their characters the brothers bring a compassionate view born of the understanding this underclass has, in part, been created by society's higher-ups. And though the pair might deny it, their films also suggest an ingrained Christian vision through insisting on the transformative possibility of the most debased being.
"The Silence of Lorna," their latest portrait, which premiered in Cannes, has failed to elicit the rapturous response received by some of the earlier work, such as the 2005 Palme d'Or winner "The Child." Yet despite an exposition that some found lengthy, the Dardennes bring great resonance to this...
- 5/22/2008
- by Erica Abeel
- ifc.com
- #21. Le Silence de Lorna Directors/Writers: Dardenne Bros. (see above)Distributor: Currently Seeking Distribution The Gist: This centers on an arranged marriage of an illegal immigrant from Albania to a drug addict. Fact: After La Promesse and L'Enfant - this is a third reunion between actor Jérémie Renier and the Dardennes. See It: Like Ken Loach, the Dardennes penetrate into the personal lives of those less fortunate with compelling POVs. Release Date/Status?: Currently filming, I expect this to play out at this year's Cannes. ...
- 1/31/2008
- IONCINEMA.com
SAN FRANCISCO -- La Petite Chartreuse, a slim, bleak film directed by Jean-Pierre Denis, is a story of the walking wounded. Each character suffers from crippling loneliness. Emotionally damaged or nearly dead, they claw their way toward human connection. Denis strives to dramatize the redemptive power of love but fails to achieve a transcendent payoff.
Despite fine acting and able cinematography from Dardennes brothers alumnus, Benoit Dervaux, this promising film comes perilously close to an exercise in existential angst. It could find a limited art house audience with special handling.
Denis, who collaborated on adapting Pierre Peju's novel with Yvon Rouve, tries to lighten the book's relentless misery; nonetheless, the film is as sharp-edged and impenetrable as the snowy alpine peaks of Grenoble where the main character finds refuge.
The exceptional Oliver Gourmet (La Promesse) plays Etienne, a book dealer and barely recovered alcoholic who has given up the juice but not the rage that drove him to it. While driving his car, he runs over young Eva. Her feckless single mother, Pascale (Marie-Josee Croze), unable to cope with a healthy child, runs away from caring for a severely injured one. Croze, in an unsympathetic part, shows us a fragile, diffuse personality, a woman, who, with a shrug, turns her daughter over to the stranger who nearly killed her.
The accident puts Eva in a coma and sends Etienne reeling. He makes guilt-ridden attempts to reach the inert girl -- somehow he knows that she is his last chance -- and, later, he has an impulsive encounter with her mother. Their voracious coupling in a ditch alongside a highway comes out of animal hunger rather than desire.
Gourmet rises to the tough assignment of portraying a man who exists in a state of eternal winter. A blustering bear of a man with a bespectacled, slightly cross-eyed gaze, the actor brings to his role the befuddlement of Bert Lahr's cowardly lion, laced with seething hostility. When, after the accident, he pulls off the road and howls in the wilderness, Gourmet conveys the despair of a man who has been abandoned by all that is kind and fair.
Despite fine acting and able cinematography from Dardennes brothers alumnus, Benoit Dervaux, this promising film comes perilously close to an exercise in existential angst. It could find a limited art house audience with special handling.
Denis, who collaborated on adapting Pierre Peju's novel with Yvon Rouve, tries to lighten the book's relentless misery; nonetheless, the film is as sharp-edged and impenetrable as the snowy alpine peaks of Grenoble where the main character finds refuge.
The exceptional Oliver Gourmet (La Promesse) plays Etienne, a book dealer and barely recovered alcoholic who has given up the juice but not the rage that drove him to it. While driving his car, he runs over young Eva. Her feckless single mother, Pascale (Marie-Josee Croze), unable to cope with a healthy child, runs away from caring for a severely injured one. Croze, in an unsympathetic part, shows us a fragile, diffuse personality, a woman, who, with a shrug, turns her daughter over to the stranger who nearly killed her.
The accident puts Eva in a coma and sends Etienne reeling. He makes guilt-ridden attempts to reach the inert girl -- somehow he knows that she is his last chance -- and, later, he has an impulsive encounter with her mother. Their voracious coupling in a ditch alongside a highway comes out of animal hunger rather than desire.
Gourmet rises to the tough assignment of portraying a man who exists in a state of eternal winter. A blustering bear of a man with a bespectacled, slightly cross-eyed gaze, the actor brings to his role the befuddlement of Bert Lahr's cowardly lion, laced with seething hostility. When, after the accident, he pulls off the road and howls in the wilderness, Gourmet conveys the despair of a man who has been abandoned by all that is kind and fair.
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