L’Enfant
November 18th, 2006
L’Enfant won the Palme d’Or at Cannes, but it’s going on our worst-of-year list. The set up is interesting enough: a homeless teenager leaves the hospital with a newborn, and her small-time crook boyfriend decides that it would be a good idea to sell the baby for a handful of cash. The technical term for this kind of a man is “raging asshole,” and instead of giving us the mother’s story, the film’s focuses on him as he tries to steal enough money to buy back the child, avoid the cops, and dig himself into an ever-deeper hole. It would have been a challenge to make this character even borderline likable, but the Dardennes don’t even try. The amount of callousness, stupidity, and ignorance on display is overwhelming, and in the unearned final scene, we’re suddenly asked to embrace the babymonger’s unlikely redemption. This is the kind of preposterous fake-gritty hokum that gives art house film a bad name–call it the Crash of Cannes.
L’Enfant. Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, 2005. *
[tags]film, dardenne brothers, belgium, cannes, palme d’or, baby, fathers, 1 star, crooks, suffering, asshole, gritty[/tags]
Half Nelson
March 18th, 2006
It’s hard to teach inner city kids, so who’s to blame idealistic teacher Dan (Ryan Gosling) for the occasional coke binge? Well, maybe it’s not such a good idea to pass out in the girl’s bathroom at school after a few puffs on the crack pipe. Drey (Shareeka Epps), the girl who finds him, has her own set of problems. Very well written & performed indie flick–in fact, finally, again, a true indie flick, not “but it cost less than $20 million” Brokeback. Terrific double feature with Down to the Bone. Directed by Ryan Fleck.
