Best of 2011: “Le Gamin au Vélo”

Posted by Robert Ryan on Jan 25, 2012 in Film | 0 comments

This Belgian director pair continue to amaze with how they can always get me to feel such deep compassion for their characters. Since La Promesse they have used the same cinematographer, Alain Marcoen, who with his cinema vérité style brings such an overwhelming empathy that it can barley be resisted.

This is yet another story of someone fighting against the odds and born into a world that doesn’t care for them. The use of Beethoven’s “Adagio Un Poco Mosso” is utterly used to perfection in the small moments of hopelessness and fits beautifully as the tragic coda.

Stop making me feel so bad that I have it so good.

Recommended Viewing: La Promesse – L’ enfant

Robert Ryan Scale: Objective: 8.8   –   Subjective: 9.0
MetaCritic: NA
Rotten Tomatoes: 92
IMDB: 7.5

Robert Ryan is a local cinema enthusiast with a film collection exceeding 8,000 titles. Robert fled his rural roots due to the church’s censorship of film. His passion and labor of love came with a price he never regrets paying. Before becoming affiliated with Rockland Lifestyle, Robert worked as a freelance film critic and professor at Nyack College, teaching digital film production.