( CNN ) -- Hollywood excess is always an easy target , as the reception to last week 's `` John Carter '' shows . But it 's worth remembering , simplicity is hard . The simplicity fused with moral force and emotional gravity that brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne bring to Cannes Grand Prix winner , `` The Kid with a Bike , '' is a rare and beautiful thing . The Belgian siblings have forged an impressive foothold in the international cinema scene over the past 15 years or so , with a brand of rigorous , concerted neo-realist tales like `` Rosetta , '' `` The Child '' and `` The Son '' ( `` Le fils '' ) that focus on marginalized , working class characters trapped by poverty and circumstance , but occasionally within spitting distance of something that can only be described as grace . As those titles suggest , children and parental bonds are a recurring theme , and they are paramount again in `` The Kid with a Bike . '' Twelve-year-old Cyril ( Thomas Doret ) is a blonde urchin with a face that looks like it has already had too many tears squeezed out of it . When we first see him , he 's planning his escape from a children 's home . He 's desperate to get back home with his father , and refuses to believe it when they tell him the ne'er do well has taken off with no forwarding address . Alas , when he does get away , the care-workers ' story checks out : Their apartment is empty , even Cyril 's most prized possession , the bike his dad gave him , has gone . It 's at this moment , when the boy is trying to avoid recapture and deny the extent of his abandonment , that he runs headlong into the arms of a stranger , Samantha ( Cecile de France ) . He clings on so tight that something clicks inside her , and she decides she can not let him go . Over the following months , Samantha brings Cyril his beloved bike and persuades the authorities to allow the boy to visit with her on weekends . She 'll track down his father ( Jeremie Regnier ) , and insist they meet . ( The spineless wretch wo n't even admit to the boy that his dad never wants to see him again . ) She 'll even furnish a home for Cyril , even though he 's scarcely capable of acknowledging his gratitude . Still , the most severe tests of her love and compassion lie ahead . Cecile de France is careful not to play a saint . In some ways Samantha may be at the mercy of her resolution , it 's certainly a hard road she chooses . But then , how do you put a price on a sunny summer bike ride with a child who loves you like a mother ? Speaking as a parent , `` The Kid with a Bike '' is sometimes almost unbearable to watch . Not for the common cruelty of Cyril 's neglect so much as the Dardennes ' keen perception of his vulnerability to evil . The boy craves respect . He 's easy prey for an older teen , a youth who grants him privileges that no parent can compete with , and demands loyalty and self-sacrifice in return . It 's a straightforward moral schema , but a perennial story of innocence and corruption that resonates intimately with the world at large . And in this telling , it 's as compelling as any thriller . There is not a wasted shot in this stripped down , pared back fable . Yet , it accrues a deep and lasting power . You wo n't see many better this year .
`` The Kid with a Bike '' has simplicity fused with moral force and emotional gravity . In the movie , Cyril escapes a children 's home and is desperate to get back to his father . When he finds the apartment empty , he runs headlong into the arms of a stranger .