The Kid With A Bike movie review

Posted on 23 November 2011
By Miv Evans
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The story could not be more simple nor the title more apt; an 11-year old boy takes us on a turbulent journey and, despite his tender years, he and his bike keep us captivated from beginning to end.

Until recently Cyril (Thomas Doret) has lived with his father, Guy (Jeremie Renier). Unfortunately, Guy’s life takes him in a direction that does not include a child and he disappears from Cyril’s life without so much as an explanation. When told that he has been abandoned, Cyril’s response is to deny the truth and go on a quest to find his father and his other treasured possession which is, of course, his bike.

We first meet Cyril when he has just been put into care, and it is his refusal to accept what he is being told that makes us instantly connect. He goes on the run and returns to the apartment where he lived with his father, convinced he will find both his parent and his missing bike. These opening scenes hold as much tension as the most expensive explosion in cinematic history and it’s impossible not to route for the lonesome kid who desperately clings to the belief that he has not been forsaken, even when faced with overwhelming evidence that he has.

It is during this first escapade that Cyril ends up in the arms of Samantha (Cecile de France), a hairdresser, who is so moved by Cyril’s plight that she makes it her business to search for his missing bicycle. This is the first lesson that Cyril teaches us; had he rolled over and accepted his fate, his life would have taken a different turn and he would have been left to fester in a world that left him cold.

Like Dorothy, Cyril meets some wicked and some good people on the yellow brick road, and he also ends up in dire straits, which dilemma proves to be as much a test for those around him as for him. Some pass, some fail, but we have no doubt that our intrepid hero will make it safely home because, underneath the confusion, he has the strength to survive. It might have taken a pair of magic shoes to save Dorothy, but all Cyril’s going to need is his bike.

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