Dardenne Brothers : Name Your Reasons Why They Aren't So Bad & Hated.

Are they not just Bresson knockoffs without Bresson's garish formalism?

(Only started this thread because I was told.)

Eric wtf is "garish formalism"? Explain yourself, man.

The Son and The Promise are brilliant. Need to see Rosetta.

xpost was a joke. Bresson is awesome.

Loved The Kid with a Bike. The others have their graces too but the brothers read Zola instead of Balzac.

they aren't all that hateful but that they have two palme d'ors (iirc) is a p dispiriting reflection on european cinema

I enjoyed Le silence de Lorna

Who bullies their non-actors more?

the biggest problem is that they tend to repeat themselves.
still, they deserve the respect they get.

I disliked Rosetta, but all the other are good to great

I just saw the kid with the bike. The way the kid acted out seemed very much like in real life and not like acting. I can't imagine this in an American film. The only thing that bothered me was the use of music.

that's interesting. music reminded me a little of kiarostami's and life goes on (i think it has different titles, maybe life is all there is, the earthquake one), that it was meant to be this occasional semi intrusive chaptering device. but it wasn't as successful as that, maybe too grand.

a device used in Kieslowski too.

The Kid with a Bike is probably at the top of my list for the year so far, their best since The Son.

kid with a bike, le havre and the angels' share have made a v nice trilogy this year - three films where acts of kindness are ultimately rewarded

for once Morbs and I may actually share a number one.

God willing I won't be making an actual list.

yeah i loved this film. clearly they are modifying their approach subtly to make something a bit more accessible, where you can fill in the characters' psychology a bit more readily. but that didn't work to the film's detriment at all.

these dudes are the best, i worry they are being taken for granted a little.

i've missed lorna's silence, should rectify that. not sure it came to theaters here or if it did i was out of town.

That was the best of their's I've seen, after The Son. Neither of which I really want to see again.

I saw Lorna's Silence in April before TKWAB and to me it's clearly the work that points towards the more recent film.

So it's the Controversy to TKWAB's 1999.

Yes. Arta Dobroshi's performance is the equivalent of the programmed drums on "Private Joy."

Such a pretty toy.

David Ehrlich on their latest putative masterpiece:

seriously, if they can make Marion Cotillard great, they are truly *the* masters of the medium. all hail.

im p much a fan of everything theyve done but ugh this was really disappointing imo; is abt a 20-minute shorts worth of an idea, and you could easily film a doc abt depression thatd be much more impactful in getting this idea across

Dardenne fans disliking this is the cherry on top.

crunch is the first ive heard, really

I loved two days one night. It's like a masterclass in acting. The scene where she speaks to Timur on the football field was astonishing. I mean WOW.

I thought Kid With a Bike was a great advance for them, a way forward out of the strict confines of 'documentary realism', but Two Days... didn't work for me nearly as well, just because the basic set-up felt so contrived.

Unsure as to why ICA are re-screening all of their films, not as if Dardennes are underappreciated/underscreened.

just watched La Fille Inconnue, it was unexpectedly Hitchcockian tbh

The Unknown Girl their weakest to date.

It definitely felt somewhat formulaic and white savior-ish (except she didn't save anyone -- well, except...).

I think Rosetta might be worse.

Disagree heartily, I really loved Unknown Girl

I did think Adèle Haenel's performance was strong and unshowy.

"unexpected Hitchcockian" + unbeloved by Dardennes stans = I'll probably see it

j/k I get the feeling I've been wrong about the Dardennes this whole time

well, that's a fact. xo

i think the "white saviour" angle is tempered by the ways that the main character is led to reassess her self-image

i thought it was good on the kind of missionary mentality that you find in some middle class professionals

It's kinda the first film they've made about a middle class character? I liked that wringle. I doubt it's worse than those films they made before The Pledge which everyone says are absolutely awful, but yeah, it was a bit disappointing. I don't know if it's 'white saviour', but it's disappointing that the immigrant girl is basically only there to die so that the white character can realize stuff about herself. It is kinda the same plot as in The Pledge, but that film made a point out of really delving into the immigrant experience, which this one doesn't.

LOL'ing at where I was at with these two back when I started this thread, as I'm now musing that one of the things that's soured me on film culture of late is when everyone turned on these guys

I loved two days one night. It's like a masterclass in acting. The scene where she speaks to Timur on the football field was astonishing. I mean WOW.

― Acting Crazy (Instrumental) (jed_), Thursday, 30 April 2015 05:45 (eight years ago) bookmarkflaglink

I don't know film culture, but jed otm. I should try and see more of their work. My hilarious gag is that the above mentioned film would make a great double bill with Cristian Mungiu's four months three weeks and two days.

Tori and Lokita on Criterion Channel.

Tori and Lokita is pretty good

I have never seen a Dardenne bros. film but have always suspected I might like them. What should I start with?

The Kid with a Bike or L'Enfant are as good as any.

They're all pretty great. Their films have great empathy and unadorned but interesting plots. They have an unassuming camera technique, where the camera is chasing after and trying to keep up with the characters and often ends up awkwardly placed.

I think my favorite is Rosetta (1999), starring a very young Émilie Dequenne, who was amazing in it. The most mainstream is probably Two Days, One Night (2015), which got an Oscar nomination for Marion Cotillard

Rosetta was Émilie Dequenne's first film role, and she won best actress for it at Cannes