Birr Film Club:
Dir: Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne, Belgium, 2011, 87 mins, Cert: 12A
A troubled 12-year-old, reluctantly living in a home since his father abandoned him (let alone the titular promised bicycle), meets and is shown sympathy and understanding by a hairdresser, who finds herself having to deal not only with the kid’s own capacity for violence but with the temptations put in his way by a local gangleader. This is a tale of crime and punishment, longing and disappointment, love, hatred and forgiveness. But in the end it’s probably best to forget such contextual stuff, as the film is primarily about people. Geoff Andrew, Time Out London
Winner - Grand Jury Prize, Cannes Film Festival 2011
€7/€5/€3
