17/11/2009

Autumn is turning out to be a very good season for Belgian films. After the resounding success of Flemish title The Misfortunates [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Felix van Groeningen
film profile] (which, incidentally, has just been picked up by US distributor Neo-Classics), the highly-anticipated Barons [+see also:
film review
trailer
Interview with director and actress of…
interview: Nabil Ben Yadir
film profile] is living up to expectations. With its legendarily nonchalant characters, the film has attracted over 20,000 viewers in one week.

By way of comparison, despite its modest release on an 11-print run, the film has got off to a better start than The Child [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Luc & Jean-Pierre Dardenne
film profile] (2005) by the Dardenne brothers, traditional champions of the Belgian Francophone box office.

During its second weekend on release, the film continued to fill UGC theatres in Brussels. Managers even had to introduce a system for double-checking tickets, in order to avoid frustrated viewers being turned away due to sold-out screenings.

The film’s lucky distributor, Cinéart, hopes to reach 100,000 admissions, and even the French, Swiss and Flemish newspapers are talking about this remarkable success. By way of comparison, the best-performing majority Belgian Francophone film of 2008 was Lorna’s Silence [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Arta Dobroshi
interview: Arta Dobroshi
interview: Jean-Pierre et Luc Dardenne
interview: Olivier Bronckart
film profile] with over 60,000 admissions.

But besides the crowds, what is impressive is not so much the size but the quality of audiences. Just like Welcome to the Sticks [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (relatively speaking, of course), Les Barons is attracting people who hadn’t been to the cinema in a long time.

Like The Sticks, the film attempts to describe a place (Brussels, a city surprisingly overlooked on the big screen) and a community, that of the Maroxellois (Brussels residents of Moroccan origin). This process of identification coupled with popular enthusiasm (especially among youngsters) fuelled by a viral PR campaign initiated even before shooting began, have helped launch Les Barons into the box office heights, and you can bet it’s going to stay there for a while.

It is thus shaping up to be a prolific end-of-year season for the film’s producer, Entre Chien et Loup, who will also release Lucas Belvaux’s new film Rapt, about the kidnapping of another famous Baron, on December 9.

(Translated from French)