The Kid with a Bike

As I slowly make my way through my "2012 Movies to See" list, it's becoming more and more apparent that foreign films are just blowing domestic films out of the water this year.  The Kid with a Bike is essentially as simple as its title.  Cyril, a 12-year-old boy living in a foster home, obsessively  tries to escape the premises to search for his father.

One day Cyril is able to fully escape and manages to take a bus to his father's apartment.  He is told his father moved out a month ago and the apartment is vacant, but doesn't believe the superintendent and manages to get inside the apartment complex.  The counselors from the school find Cyril in the complex and show him the vacant apartment.  Cyril, abandoned, clings to a random woman in the complex to avoid being taken into custody by the foster home once more.  The woman, Samantha, later turns up at the foster home returning Cyril's lost bike.  Cyril then asks if he's able to stay with Samantha on the weekends.

Samantha and Cyril track down Cyril's father, and after a long goose chase they finally meet him face-to-face.  Cyril's father tells him straight up that he's starting over, and that he doesn't want to see him anymore.
Cyril, played by Thomas Doret (seemingly a newcomer, appearing in his 2nd film), expertly embodies a wide range of emotions following his abandonment: guilt, anger, denial, self-loathing, obession, you name it, it's there.  Doret is uncomfortably good at displaying these emotions, often times it's hard to watch the film unfold because it can be quite devastating at times.

Cecile de France (in the forgettable Hereafter), as Samantha, plays the caring guardian role very well.  She's protective and understanding of Cyril's emotions, no matter how extreme, she seems to genuinely understand and care.

The Kid with a Bike is streaming on Netflix, as is the creators' earlier film L'Enfant.

B+