Les Ardennes

What a terrific crime drama from Belgium. I the line of BULLHEAD released four years ago, you deal here with a pure product of what the Flemish film industry can give at its best. Gritty, tragic, moving, brutal film that begins as a drama for the first half before resuming as a pure dark crime tale. Depressing, not for the squeamish, I warn you. An unforgettable experience. Astounding performances pulled by a flawless cast. The story of two brothers, one from the can, and the other desperately trying to go in the right way.

The director deserves to be closely watched at in the future.

A pure jewel, a masterpiece.

"The Ardennes" (2015 release from Belgium; 96 min.) brings the story of brothers Dave and Kenny. As the movie opens, Dave is seen scrambling and driving off madly with a woman, while Kenny is not so lucky, and gets arrested. In a quick montage, Kenny is sentenced to 7 years in jail, his girlfriend Sylvie attends AA/NA meetings and is now 2 years clean, and Dave is working at a carwash. Then after 4 years, Kenny is released, and Dave picks him up. Kenny is disappointed that Sylvie isn't there to meet him, but we in the meantime know that Sylvie is now with Dave, and pregnant (all unbeknownst to Kenny). At his mom's urging, Dave is able to get Kenny a job at the car wash. Will Kenny find out about Dave and Sylvie? Will Kenny remain on the straight-and-narrow? At this point we are a good 10 min. into the movie but to tell you more pf the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: in the initial opening credits, the movie is announced as "Belgian cinema from Flanders" (which is the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium). In fact, the movie is set in and around Antwerp, my original home town, and all of the characters speak with a pronounced Antwerp dialect accent. Writer-director Robin Pront previously was the producer of the Oscar-nominated "Bullhead". Here he explores another crime drama, and along with it a complicated relationship between 2 brothers. The movie is highly stylish in both its photography and camera angles, adding to the overall sense of dread that something very bad may be going down. Veerle Batens as Sylvie delivers yet another top-notch performance, as does Jeroen perceval as Dave. But the intense performance of Kevin Janssens as the unstable Kenny is what really lifts this movie. Last but certainly not least, there is an outstanding electronic score, courtesy of Flemish composer Hendrik Willemyns, whom I had never heard of before. Bottom line, this is a dark crime drama which I ended up enjoying a lot more than I expected. Incidentally, this was Belgium's official entry for the 2017 Best Foreign Language Movie Oscar (it was not nominated).

While "The Ardennes" played at a number of film festivals (it premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival) and was officially released in the US in early 2017, it really wasn't until Film Movement released it as part of its Movie of the Month releases that this gained a wider audience. This is how I finally was able to see it. So glad I did (and not just because I originally hail from Belgium). If you are in the mood for a dark crime drama, I'd readily recommend you check this out and draw your own conclusion. I think you will be quite pleased. "The Ardennes" is a WINNER.

"Kenny" (Kevin Janssens) and brother "Dave" (Jeroen Perceval) are involved in an abortive burglary that sees the latter escape leaving the former to spend the next four years in jail. When he is released, the siblings are reunited with their mother and for a while, bygones seem to be bygones with "Kenny" even seeming to forgive his ex "Sylvie" (Veerle Baetens) who now has a child and who has also taken up a job pole-dancing for a Moroccan night-club owner. It's round about now that we start to see some cracks appear in the brotherly relationship. "Kenny" finds out who the father of the child is, loses his temper, then things are exacerbated by some thugs who visit their workplace and one of those is accidentally killed. Unsurprisingly, they get fired and then have to take the corpse to the remote rural home of ex-cellmate "Stef" (Jan Bijvoet) and his pal "Joyce" (Sam Louwyck). Ostensibly they are just going to get shot of the body, but their relationship only gets worse and "Dave" begins to wonder if he can, actually, trust his brother. Robin Pront does try to mix up the narrative a bit, it's gritty and dark at times and I thought Janssens made a decent fist of his "Kenny" character. The rest of the film, though, isn't really up to much. The dialogue is strained and a bit contrived, the direction style staccato and it really falls to the eccentricities of "Stef" and "Joyce" to breath a little quirkiness into what is otherwise all just a bit of a dreary denouement. I didn't hate it, but I doubt I'd watch it again.

Dave and Kenneth are brothers and are on the wrong side of the law. They attempt a robbery and it all goes to hell in a hand cart, but Dave manages to escape leaving his brother to take the rap – and he does.

Move on four years and Kenneth is out and he wants to make up for lost time. He also cant accept that his brother has had the temerity to grow up and start acting like an adult. He also wants back with his ex- girlfriend but she has other ideas and he involvement with both brothers becomes pivotal to how things spiral.

Now this is gritty but it is a lot of psychological pain before the actual real pain kicks in. The acting is great and the cinematography very well done and it is in Flemish, but this is in the Antwerp dialect which has upset a few observers as it is a bit on the 'common' side. However it also adds to the realism of the piece – all in all though a very commendable film indeed.

Belgian cinema has gotten more and more ambitious in this past decade, and that newfound self esteem certainly paved the way for something like "D'Ardennen". This is the kind of movie that takes guts to make, particularly when you're working on a shoestring budget. It starts of very slowly, but you really need the meandering (okay...boring) first act to appreciate what follows. Director Robin Pront gradually makes his characters more insane as the movie progresses, and plays with your expectations beautifully. The two brothers this movie revolves around seem like small time crooks, dumb guys who are down on their luck but good at heart. When you're proved wrong, it hits you like a sledgehammer. In the end, you're treated to one of the most messed- up plot twists I've seen in years. Nobody left that theatre smiling, nobody was even talking. If you can achieve that, you've written a pretty amazing and gripping ending. "D'Ardennen" is occasionally marketed as a cross between the Dardenne brothers and Tarantino, which is incredibly inaccurate: actually it's not like anything else I've ever seen, and just for that it deserves a lot of credit.