In one of the latest editions of the 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die book this French language Belgian made film was one of the newest entries, the title made it obvious about something in the story, but otherwise I was looking forward to seeing what it would entail. Basically twelve year old boy Cyril Catoul (Thomas Doret) is in foster care, but he is searching for his father, and he also wants the bicycle that he lost, he follows clues he has, including to a doctor's office, to find where his father lives, but when he finds his old apartment he is told that his father has moved away and abandoned him. Samantha (Cécile De France) from the doctor's office visits Cyril the next morning and has brought him his bike, she says she bought it but he is sure that it was stolen from his father, but he likes this woman and asks her is she would look after him on weekends, and it is from an old personal advertisement he finds that his father was the one who sold the bike. With Samantha's help the boy finally tracks down his dad Guy (Jérémie Renier), who is working in a restaurant kitchen, he allows his son to stay and have a talk and help him a little, but ultimately he is not happy to have been found and tell his son he should never come back. Heartbroken by the rejection of his father Cyril turns from comfort to Samantha, but despite her caring for him he winds up hanging out with local gang leader Wes (Egon Di Mateo) aka 'The Dealer', who takes him under his arm and trains him to rob a shop owner, and he does assault the man and his son with a baseball bat, stealing cash pouch, but feared he was identified The Dealer tells him to keep it. The boy tries to give the money to his father, but he is upset and rejects him again, so he finally accepts that Samantha can care for him, he decides to apologise to the shop owner who finds it in him to forgive the incident, but the shop owner's son is angry and tries to get revenge. Cyril is chased by the son, and he boy climbs a tree to get away from the raging young man, but he is struck by a rock and falls to the ground, he lies unconscious, the shop owner and son discuss the lies that they will tell the police, but soon enough Cyril gets up seemingly uninjured and simple walks away, and it appears he has decided to move on with his life. Also starring Fabrizio Rongione as Bookseller. Young Doret in the title role conveys good child innocence, he may be a little bratty on occasions, but is obviously the big draw, also integral is the good heart of the De France character, the story is simple enough to follow of a tearaway wanting his father and riding his beloved red bicycle but getting into trouble, it is paced well, and has good emotion and complexity to carry you along, a very worthwhile drama. It was nominated the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film. Very good!
Review of The Kid with a Bike
