Le Gamin au Vélo (Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne, 2011)

Another low-key piece from the veteran Belgian Dardenne brothers, The Kid with a Bike centres on a 13-year-old boy whose feckless father has walked out on him and his lot seems to be to be stuck in a children's home until a local hairdresser takes him in. He remains less than properly appreciative, pining for the father who doesn't want him, and ends up dicing with delinquency too, and this much is stock stuff for the set-up, regardless of how true to life it may be. Nevertheless, the handling is assured and there's a determination to avoid the predictable twists that the cinematic trajectory of the premise usually takes.

6/10