The picture was a Belgian winner at Cannes as Best European Film Director's Fortnight, and I picked it up packaged as part of an 'Own the Film Movement Series'. Though there are some terrific foreign films, this one did not leave me impressed. It takes on the guise of a road film, after Yvan (Bouli Lanners) agrees to take Didier (Fabrice Adde) back to his parents' home, this after the recovering addict is found burglarizing Yvan's house. There are some unconventional characters that the pair come across along the way, but in it's attempt to be quirky, these chance encounters seem to be more contrived than accidental. The one scene that's played for poignancy involves Didier's mother, longing for some semblance of an emotional attachment to her son, but thwarted by an off screen husband who has no use for his shiftless son. Yvan conveys a rare insight into familial relationships that he imparts to his fellow traveler, while insisting they tend to an overgrown garden of weeds. This appears to be what's at the heart of the story, as Yvan despairs over the loss of his own younger brother, and now has no one left to call family. For the viewer, one is left to make what one will with the way the story ends, as there is no resolution in the traditional sense. If seen in the company of others, there will no doubt be an endless supply of possible explanations for how the story ends, or continues as it were.
Review of Eldorado
