7.9 | / 10 |
Users | 4.5 | |
Reviewer | 4.5 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
When Cyril's father abandons him, he obsessively searches for his bicycle—placing his last bit of hope in this symbol of their relationship. Almost by accident, he becomes the ward of a kind hairdresser, who seems surprised to find herself so determined to help him. With his wild, unpredictable behavior and his disastrous search for father figures, Cyril risks losing her—though she refuses to give up without a fight.
Starring: Thomas Doret, Cécile De France, Jérémie RenierForeign | 100% |
Drama | 97% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
French: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 5.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 4.5 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
Winner of the Grand Prize of the Jury for Best Film at the Cannes Film Festival, Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne's "Le gamin au vélo" a.k.a "The Kid With a Bike" (2011) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the disc include an original trailer for the film; exclusive video interview with the Dardenne Brothers, conducted by conducted by critic and filmmaker Kent Jones; exclusive video interview with actor Thomas Doret; video interview with actress Cecile de France; and long featurette with the Dardenne Brothers. The release also arrives with an illustrated booklet featuring an essay by critic Geoff Andrew. In French, with optional English subtitles. Region-A "locked".
The Kid
Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne's The Kid With a Bike arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.
The following text appears inside the booklet provided with this Blu-ray release:
"Supervised by director of photography Alain Marcoen, this new digital transfer was created in 2K resolution on a Northlight scanner from a 35mm interpositive.
Transfer supervisor: Alain Marcoen.
Colorist: Gerard Savary/Eclair Laboratories, Epinay-sur-Seine, France."
The high-definition transfer used for this release, which was supervised by director of photography Alain Marcoen, is virtually identical to the one Artificial Eye used for their Blu-ray release of The Kid With a Bike in the United Kingdom. The film has a warm, very beautiful organic look. During sequences with plenty of natural light, detail and clarity are exceptional. Color reproduction is also excellent - the reds, yellows, greens, blues, and browns are are consistently lush. There are no traces problematic denoising corrections or contrast adjustments/boosting. Excluding some extremely light banding I noticed during the second half of the film, compression is also very good. To sum it all up, I think that The Kid With a Bike looks quite beautiful on Blu-ray. It is guaranteed to please its fans. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray disc. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).
There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray disc: French DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. For the record, Criterion have provided optional English subtitles for the main feature.
Surround and dynamic activity in The Kid With a Bike are very limited, but this is how the film was shot. Excluding a short theme (beautiful strings) that is occasionally heard in the back, music also does not have an important role in the film. The dialog is exceptionally crisp, stable, and very easy to follow. There are no pops, audio dropouts, or distortions to report in this review.
I thought that Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne's The Kid With a Bike was one of the very best films to be released on Blu-ray in 2012. It is fantastic to see that it is now also available in the United States. Criterion's release also comes with excellent exclusive supplemental features, including a lengthy video interview with the Belgian directors conducted by Kent Jones. Do not miss this release, folks. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
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