For social realism—if you’re into that sort of thing—they don’t come more dependable than Belgium’s Dardenne brothers. Their last 5 films all played at Cannes and all won top prizes (including two Palmes d’Or), cementing their reputation as the filmmakers laureate of Europe’s lower-middle class even if they’ve never truly cracked the American market. All of their strengths, and a few of their weaknesses, are back this year with The Boy With a Bike, which plays so much like an extension of their earlier L’Enfant that a review of one could easily be a review of the other. I admittedly haven’t seen the film that’s supposed to be their best (Rosetta), but so far, my impression is that they start strong but go too far by the end: they don’t trust the heartbreaking simplicity of their character’s dilemma to stand on its own, so they try to force a cinematic situation onto what would be better served by a lighter touch. The result is that it all risks crossing the line from social realism to social melodrama. Which is a pity, since they really know how to get a performance and shoot a scene.