Tonight we left France and drove north a few hundred miles to Belgium to watch a film by The Dardenne Brothers called "The Son" (2002). If you have a good memory you might recall me mentioning a movie I saw two or three years ago called "The Kid With A Bike", or another one called "L'Enfant". Both were made by the Dardenne siblings, who often share the major credits of directing/producing/writing. I first heard of Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne in 2015/16, when I saw "The Kid With A Bike", and I was immediately hooked on their style of filmmaking, which looks and feels like you are watching real life. It would almost be Cinema Verite (real life footage) if it weren't for the professional acting and plot building techniques achieved through editing and very occasional expository dialogue.
What these guys do is basically take a hand-held camera and follow their characters around very closely. Often, they point the camera only at the main character, and the camera movement is very fluid. One comment at Amazon called it "The Blair Witch" effect, which was likely one of the first major films to utilise this somewhat disorienting style. If overdone, a swinging camera can make the viewer feel seasick. "Blair Witch" bordered on that. "The Son" doesn't go that far with the camerawork, but it does spend an inordinate amount of time closely following the main character from behind, and focusing tightly on the back of his head, neck and shoulder. The character is in motion for much of the film, and so this cinematic device is used to create tension. We are right at his back the whole time.
A fine actor named Olivier Goumet plays a carpentry teacher who works at a vocational center somewhere in Belgium. The center is used to rehabilitate juvenile delinquents and minor-age criminals who have been released from jail. There they can learn a trade, like carpentry or welding, that will hopefully help them to enter society as productive citizens by the time they reach adulthood.
The movie, and camera, focuses almost entirely on the Gourmet character. In the first half hour, you wonder what the deal is, because - as he teaches his students - he seems extremely nervous. He has dismissed one student as the movie begins, and now - on his lunch break - he is running around the building, peeking around corners, looking out windows, trying to catch a glimpse of the failed student. He also questions an administrator on what has happened to the student; has he actually left the school or transferred to another department?
The carpentry teacher is a nervous wreck, and because the story keeps us in the dark about what is going on, it is easy to think that the teacher is a weirdo of some type or another. The camera stays right there, close behind him, and he seems almost frantic, but barely under control.
Then, at a little over a half hour in, he leaves the shop and drives home. Soon, there is a knock upon his door. It is his ex-wife (which we learn through dialogue). She is cordial, and tries to make conversation with her former husband the teacher, but she sees how shook up he is.
Then he offers up some news about the student at the rehabilitation center whom he had dismissed earlier in the day. The student is a person with whom they are both familiar. His ex-wife follows that news up with a bombshell, which I cannot reveal to you, but it sets the rest of the story in motion.
The Dardennes film entirely with handheld camera, and they are very good at it, though some disorientation may result. They use no soundtrack whatsoever, no music or sound effects. They light things in a way that makes every scene look as if "room lighting" was used, i.e flourescent lights or table lamps. It really looks like you are "following someone around in real life". That is what their films look like. And they are really good at it. I think the main reason is that they are so good at directing their actors, and that they always move the story forward, which is something I harp on all the time, lol.
I can't tell you any more about "The Son" cause I'd have to give spoilers, but on the dvd case there is an endorsement from the late Roger Ebert, who called it "one of the Ten Best Movies Of The Year" for 2002. It's really good, the best Dardenne Bros. movie I've seen so far, and I give it two big thumbs up.
I hope my movie reviews aren't getting boring, lol. I will try to mix things up a bit, but inspiration always helps. Conversation would be even better than inspiration, but I can only hope for so much I suppose.
Elizabeth, I hope you had a good day. I saw a lot of posts, mostly related to Steve and Sara. One was about being from Wisconsin, and liking cheese, and the way you guys pronounce certain words. :):)
They say that we in California have no accent, and that may be true, but we did invent the minimalist "Dude Speak".......
1st Dude : "Dude"!
2nd Dude : "Duuuuude".......
1st Dude : "Damn, Dude"!
2nd Dude : "Aww, man......Dude"!
You've gotta read between the lines just a bit to understand the Dudes, but the important thing is that, no matter how limited their vocabulary, the Dudes understand each other.
See you in the morning. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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