Playground

Foreign Film Series ~ Playground

Wednesday, June 22, 2022 - 7:00pm to 8:15pm
  • Library Hall
A coming-of-age drama from Belgium by director Laura Wandel

In this debut feature by writer-director Laura Wandel, the everyday reality of grade school is seen from a child's-eye-view as an obstacle course of degradation and abuse. Following 7-year-old Nora and her big brother Abel, we see Nora struggling to fit in before finding her place on the schoolyard. One day, she notices Abel being bullied by other kids, and though she rushes to protect him by warning their father, Abel forces her to remain silent, while he endures more humiliation and harassment by his peers. Transposing the gritty realism of such filmmakers as Jacques Audiard and the Dardennes Brothers to the inner world of kids, Wandel crafts an empathetic and visceral portrait of the cruelty of children, and the failure of adults to protect them. Shortlisted for the Academy Award for Best International Film.

Screens in French with English subtitles

 

Run Time: 

73 min.
"Critic's Pick! [A] perfect hour and 12 minutes....a knockout, as flawlessly constructed as it is harrowing. A work of striking integrity and force...a story that in its piercing, sensitive detail and life-shaping arc is as familiar as yours and mine.
New York Times