• It is a B-side, lesser work in the decade-spanning career of major auteurs – the Dardenne brothers
  • The brothers are social realists—THE social realists of the last 20-30 years – a stripped down style, handheld camera, lots of close-ups, moral dilemmas often featuring amateur actors in real locations
  • A brisk 85 minutes—almost like a tragic novella
  • The Dardenne’s give leave breadcrumbs along the way telling the story of their titular character here- he has an absent father (he has a picture of him under his rug that he prays on), his mother drinks, he has a cousin who he admires who gave himself over to an extremist group
  • The Dardenne’s camera pans back and forth during a debate in a long take– in another scene the camera is pushed back literally in the middle of a family physical fight as young Ahmed calls his mother a drunk and his sister a slut
  • Politics aside, I admire the risk-taking on the subject matter here with Dardenne bbrothers. They could apply their style to nearly any subject at this point (they are darlings at Cannes and almost always win something) but to take on such a subject as they have here— bold.
  • It isn’t the same as what Atlman did in the 1970’s with genre revisionism—but you can read the Dardenne brothers work as applying their unique cinematic style to different genres. Two Days, One Night is their beat-the-clock thriller… this is their coming-of-age teen drama. In a style that can both be traced back to Rossellini and neorealism—and one that is also 100% identifiable as the Dardenne’s stripped down approach- nearly as recognizable as Wes Anderson, Nolan or Malick
  • A devastating “I wish you could be like before” line from Ahmed’s mother
  • There is an eerie coldness in Idir Ben Addi’s performance as Ahmed
  • The ending is abrupt—purposely contradictory—leaving the character, ending, and film open to debate and interpretations
  • Recommend but not in the top 10 of 2019—best seen as another spoke in the wheel for the Dardenne brothers–  part in a series—the Dardenne brothers’ impressive body of work