Young Ahmed (Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne) [Archive]

Peng

04-03-2020, 04:51 AM

Two of my favorite filmmakers make their worst film and the result still isn't too bad (even if watching this has me realize I probably underrated The Unknown Girl a tad). Not in my place to tell if the details are misguided, but they are definitely simplistic, in that compared to all their other films this feels like a skimpy first draft, concerning iterations of an attempt ad infinitum, sans their usual psychologically acute events to fill in along the way. It's compounded by this having the blandest lead performance of all their films too, which is almost a deadly combo for a singled-minded protagonist like this. Most personally alarming for me though is that this is the first time their last scene feels so underwhelming; what happens is very much of their signature but absent the stirring/haunting quality that even their previous weakest films manage to build to. 5.5-6/10