At the Lumiere premiere, when the film ended, someone booed very loudly. It turns out it was The Playlist’s Charles Bramesco who then went on Twitter to spoil the movie’s ending: Good job man. Of course it was an American that booed. I can already see the narrative: “black actors exploited by white directors.” What a douche to spoil the movie on Twitter like that. He eventually deleted his tweet and wrote another one. Back to the movie. There is no exploiting of actors in “Tori and Lokita.” Set in Belgium, this is the tale of two orphans, a young boy and an adolescent girl, who have travelled alone from Africa, and become friends. She’s still considered an “illegal” and can’t get her citizenship papers straight to work legally. They both end working for a drug dealer at a Pizzeria and, obviously, things go bad. It’s exactly what you expect from the Dardennes, but they are excellent storytellers and their camera always seems to be in the right place. This is a story of survival and you feel the desperation almost every minute. It is utterly gripping. The two exceptional lead performances come from Alban Ukaj and Tijmen Govaerts, both untrained non-actors. The Dardennes love to pick faces we don’t know for optimal realism and it works again here. Bugger off, Bramesco! Contribute Hire me
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