Laughing My Head Off. - Le gamin au vélo (2011) Discussion

lol. so true.

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I really thought this was a great film, except I wonder if it ever dawned on the filmmakers that in real life most of the kid's woes (and probably 75% of the film) would disappear if he had just gotten a bike lock.

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[–] kjewitt 12 years ago

Yes the bike lock thing did occur to me.

No man will marry a bilakoro

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[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Stirchley 9 years ago

most of the kid's woes (and probably 75% of the film) would disappear if he had just gotten a bike lock

LOL. Definitely not a New York City kid.

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[–] mikeyflatley 12 years ago

its da same. they both use euro

I live, I love, I slay, and I'm content

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[–] PenguinTom 12 years ago

I have to agree; I really could not understand why this film has received such acclaim. I liked the cinemtography, and the young boy was impeccable in his role, but the lack of character development really inhibited whatever message the film was trying to convey. I couldn't help feeling the film would have made a good first half to a longer film documenting the characters' lives. I also thought quite a bit of the film was rather melodramatic, including the scene where the hairdresser's boyfriend abandons the car in the middle of the highway. I was hoping this would be a good film, but sadly, I was disappointed.

http://writingsofdack.blogspot.com/

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[–] andrejs-visockis 12 years ago

If you didn't see any character development, I would have to say that you are completely blind and probably shouldn't be watching films of this calibre in the first place since they seem to be completely wasted on you

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[–] TheCineSinge 11 years ago

I think the boy was fairly well-developed but Samantha fell quite short.

We know NOTHING of her motives. What does she see in this boy? Why is she taking care of him?

A bit more on her would have given this film the extra boost it needed.

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[–] jackrubysdog-163-559869 11 years ago

I have to agree. ALL the characters, aside from Cyril, were there to provide a function towards the story, and nothing else. The worse two were the kid who became his friend, seemingly from just asking Cyril to join in a game of football (which then he didn't turn up for), and the kid who kept stealing his bike, who was just in the film to randomly steal Cyril's bike. Samantha, his dad, the newsagent, the dealer ... all just there to provide a function to the story with very little depth to their characters.

I must surmise it was the Dardenne Brothers intention to do this, so you would concentrate on Cyril, but to me, it significantly lessened the impact of the film.

Also, Cyril changed to his accepting personality far too swiftly, and the last ten minutes were superfluous, unless they resulted in a much greater plot dynamic.

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[–] sanstereo 11 years ago

I think you guys are getting off track.
The OP's intent is to point out that the directors are actually Belgian.
If this would've been a Flemish-speaking film they might've gotten it right more often.

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[–] TomRosicky17 10 years ago

but the lack of character development really inhibited whatever message the film was trying to convey.

Really?! What film were you watching?

"Doublethink. To deliberately believe in lies, while knowing they're false." Henry Barthes

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[–] sillyhat 11 years ago

If professional movie critics are calling it a "French film," yeah, that's bad. But if it's just an average movie viewer making that mistake, it's a little more understandable, as there are basically no geographic points of reference in this movie, aside from the little "avec le soutien de la Région Wallonie" line in the opening credits. (Well, that and the Jupiler beer can.)

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