‘Tori and Lakota’: The Dardenne Brothers Just Made Their Masterpiece
No one makes films that are simultaneously as gritty and lyrical as Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, the Belgian directorial duo responsible for some of the greatest big-screen works (Rosetta, The Son, The Child) of the past four decades.
The internationally acclaimed siblings are cinematic titans with a gift for telling stories—primarily about marginalized individuals enduring everyday hardships—with a gripping vérité authenticity that blossoms into heartrending poetry. Fiercely political filmmakers who never resort to sermonizing, they shine an illuminating light on suffering, destitution, loss and injustice through empathetic portraits of the desperate and downtrodden. They’re humanists of the most masterful kind. And their latest, Tori and Lokita (in theater March 24), is one of their absolute best.
Winner of the 75th Anniversary Prize at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival, the Dardennes’ 12th fictional feature is set in a nondescript Belgian neighborhood that’s home to Tori (Pablo Schils) and Lokita (Joely Mbundu), two African immigrant kids striving to survive on the margins.