CinemaFunk: The Kid with a Bike

The Kid with a Bike is one of the leading non-English language films of 2011 with a Grand Prix award from Cannes. Exploring the effects of childhood abandonment, this film is a reversal of one of cinema's most revered tales, Bicycle Thieves. With handheld camerawork that rarely leaves the main character's perspective, this film explores the unconditional love in the face of abandonment.

Unable to believe that his father has left him and sold his bike, Cyril (Thomas Doret) runs away at any chance in order to find his father. Towards the end of one specific chase, Cyril grabs a hold of Samantha (Cécile de France) to anchor himself. Days later, Cyril is surprised to see that Samantha has found Cyril's bike and is willing to allow Cyril to live with her on weekends.

The Kid with a Bike explores a specific symptom of children who lash out and become delinquent from childhood abandonment. Cyril was unwilling to believe that his father would just leave at the turn of a dime and sell his bicycle. Even upon the revelation that this was indeed true, Cyril still has hope for reuniting with his father. The film portrays the unconditional love that some adoptive parents will provide no matter the behavior of a child.

I've never seen a Dardeene Brothers film, but their three decade long career and their accomplishments in the oughts. But The Kid with a Bike will certainly give me a nudge to locate their previous films. Using mostly eye-line level handheld cameras the film exhibits the Italian Neo-realistic and French New Wave aesthetics. Longer takes show Cyril simply riding his bike around the city with the camera pan along with the action. We are not presented with the typical shot-reverse-shot convention, but instead the camerawork attempts to show how Cyril's only freedom is when he is riding his bike.

Where Bicycle Thieves portrayed a father and his son looking for their stolen bicycle as their only means of livelihood, The Kid with a Bike is quite the opposite. A child uses the minimal freedom of his bike to look for and reunite with his father. No matter how many times Cyril attempts to pursue his father and try to live together, he is rebuffed. The two films even end similarly, although their objects of desire reversed.