This year’s Grand Prize winner from Cannes tells the story of a troubled boy who is desperate for parental support from his neglectful father. Living in a boys’ home, Cyril expends most of his energy on trying to see his dad until a kindly hairdresser agrees to take him in on weekends and attempts to steer his energies in other directions. Despite her efforts, the willful Cyril falls in with a group of local toughs and begins making some very poor decisions in the hopes of winning his father’s attention. Mining the naturalist vein that they are masters of and eliciting phenomenal work from Cécile de France, Jérémie Renier and newcomer Thomas Doret, the Dardennes have created another indelible portrait of everyday life.

Le gamin au vélo, Belgium/France/Italy 2011, 87 min. Written by Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne. Photographed by Alain Marcoen. With Cécile de France, Thomas Doret, Jérémie Renier, Olivier Gourmet. In French with subtitles. IFC.