Tori et Lokita

Over a quarter of a century, the Dardenne brothers seem to have found all human drama on the streets of the Belgian industrial town of Seraing, near Liège. Their latest film takes us back to the area for the story of two young survivors. Lokita is a teenager from Benin living in a home for young immigrants with Tori, her kid brother; in fact, their bond is purely adoptive, but they have forged a tender and unbreakable connection of mutual care. In harsh financial straits, they make money selling drugs at night, but are also in debt to a duo of people-smugglers. Then Lokita makes a desperate bargain, and the young duo’s fortunes take a darker turn.
As usual, the Dardennes are ruthlessly focused in their storytelling: without embellishment, they lead us through their characters’ travails and allow us to map out the social labyrinth of obstacles and restrictions they are forced to navigate for ourselves. As ever, the film is compassionate, urgent, with the unmistakable ring of hard-researched reality. Affecting, compelling performances from its two young leads make for a film that avoids all rhetoric and false sentiment in its depiction of resilience against ferocious odds. (Jonathan Romney)

Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne: LE CHANT DU ROSSIGNOL (1978), FALSCH (1987), JE PENSE À VOUS (1992), LA PROMESSE (1996), ROSETTA (1999), LE FILS (2002), L’ENFANT (2005), LE SILENCE DE LORNA (2008), LE GAMIN AU VÉLO (2011), DEUX JOURS, UNE NUIT (2014), LA FILLE INCONNUE (2016), LE JEUNE AHMED (2019)