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Very well executed

Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

This is an absurdist dark comedy from Belgium. Shot perfectly in crisp black and white, Benoît Poelvoorde (Man Bites Dog) is on fine form as Roger, the angry, obsessive father of a family in a small, sullen Belgian mining town. Roger is a photographer who, along with his young daughter Luise, visits road accidents to take photos. He is also obsessed with winning a car by entering a competition where the contestant has to break a record - and he decides that his son, Michel, must attempt to break the record of perpetually walking through a door - he even hires an overweight coach to train him. Michel dresses as Elvis and has a spot on a radio show called 'Cinema Lies', where he describes mistakes in films. Luise is friendly with near neighbour Felix, a pigeon fancier. Roger is a callous figure as he pushes Michel right over the limit during the record attempt, which almost results in his death. Interspersed throughout the film are Magritte-like surreal images. It's undeniably charming and well worth your time.

The director of this film has obviously seen a Shane Meadows film or two. Not only was the film set in a small town and centred around the poorer parts but it was also in black and white and featured an odd lonely man who befriends someone much younger than him.It has been described as a comedy but it isn't funny in the way that Hollywood tells you when to laugh and builds up to a big punchline (that is usually very disappointing anyway). This film is of a realist nature and so anything that is funny is funny because it could happen to you or i. The plot is simple and the performances are brilliant. Everything is subdued and wonderfully not over the top which gives it a certain charm that is lost in anything that places special effects over a storyline.The young girl who played Luise could have a bright future ahead of her. Why is that the children i have seen in European cinema are much better at acting than those in Hollywood films? I blame the parents.

LES CONVOYEURS ATTENDENT was the first film I saw in 2000 and I doubt I'll see a better one this year. This beautiful tragicomedy by Belgian filmmaker Benoît Mariage is set in the industrial wastelands of Wallonia. Benoît Poelvoorde plays a father who desperately wants his son to win a car (a Lada!) for him. To do this the son has to break the record opening doors. What the father actually wants his for his son to be someone, because he himself has never made it further as the reporter of local news for a newspaper ironically called L'Espoir (Hope). Of course nothing works out as planned. This film can best be compared to Aki Kaurismäki's DRIFTING CLOUDS, although it is more dramatic and the humour is darker. Just like in that film however the tone is more melancholic than depressing and the ending upbeat, without being unrealistically happy. The humour is absurd, without making the plot unbelievable, and Mariage finds stunning images in the bleak settings that never seem artificial. The best thing about LES CONVOYEURS ATTENDENT is the acting by Poelvoorde. This actor shot to fame with the also brilliant cult-classic C'EST ARRIVÉ PRÈS DE CHEZ VOUS in which he played the charismatic hitman Ben. Since then he only played two small roles in films that were not released in the Netherlands, because, as he said in an interview, he was not convinced of his own acting capabilities and all the roles he was offered were reprises of the Ben character. With his return to a leading role in LCA there should be no doubt anymore about his acting. He's simply brilliant as a man stupid and evil enough to put his family in misery, but smart enough to realize what he's done and be torn by remorse about it. A must see.

This movie takes place in the Belgian region of Charleroi, which used to be a wealthy area thanks to the mines and the metallurgy. Right now is the poorest area in Belgium with serious problems of unemployment. To reflect this reality there are two ways in cinema: by doing a crude social movie close to the Ken Loach point of view, or by getting some distance and from there expose a narration that superficially could be funny but undoubtly the bitter taste will remain in the audience. In this way, this movie reflects some characters obsessed in trying to evade themselves from that oppressive environment: a father who wants to beat any of the records included in the Guiness book, a daughter in love with doves, etc. To sum up, in my opinion the spectator will find here a movie to laugh while seeing it and a movie to reflect on after seeing it.