Young Ahmed

Last updated

Young Ahmed
The Young Ahmed.jpg
Film poster
French Le Jeune Ahmed
Directed by Luc Dardenne
Jean-Pierre Dardenne
Written byJean-Pierre
Luc Dardenne
Produced byJean-Pierre Dardenne
Luc Dardenne
Denis Freyd
StarringIdir Ben Addi
CinematographyBenoît Dervaux
Edited by Marie-Hélène Dozo
Tristan Meunier
Production
companies
Les Films du Fleuve
Archipel 35
Distributed byCinéart (Belgium)
Diaphana Films (France)
Release dates
  • 20 May 2019 (2019-05-20)(Cannes) [1]
  • 22 May 2019 (2019-05-22)(Belgium & France)
Running time
84 minutes
CountriesBelgium
France
LanguageFrench
Box office$1.5 million [2] [3]

Young Ahmed (French : Le Jeune Ahmed) is a 2019 Belgian drama film directed by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne. The film revolves around a young Muslim boy from Belgium who plots to murder his teacher in the name of his religion. [4] It was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival. [5] At Cannes the Dardenne brothers won the award for Best Director. [6]

Contents

Plot

Ahmed, a 13-year-old, plots to kill his teacher, whom he believes to be an apostate after being radicalised by a local imam. Ahmed is arrested and sent to juvenile detention, where he claims to be a reformed character.

Cast

Reception

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 59% based on 82 reviews, with an average rating of 6.5/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Young Ahmed doesn't represent the Dardennes brothers' most developed work, but solid acting and a socially conscious story help compensate for its flaws." [7] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 66 out of 100, based on 21 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". [8]

Accolades

Award / Film FestivalCategoryRecipients and nomineesResult
Cannes Film Festival [9] Palme d'Or Nominated
Best Director Jean-Pierre and Luc DardenneWon
César Award [10] Best Foreign Film Nominated
Lumières Award [11] Best International FilmNominated
Magritte Award [12] Best Film Nominated
Best Director Jean-Pierre and Luc DardenneNominated
Best Screenplay Jean-Pierre and Luc DardenneNominated
Best Supporting Actor Othmane MoumenNominated
Best Supporting Actress Myriem AkheddiouWon
Claire BodsonNominated
Most Promising Actor Idir Ben AddiWon
Most Promising Actress Victoria BluckNominated
Best Editing Marie-Hélène DozoNominated
Valladolid International Film Festival [13] Best FilmNominated
Best ScreenplayJean-Pierre and Luc DardenneWon
Best EditingMarie-Hélène Dozo and Tristan MeunierWon

Related Research Articles

<i>LEnfant</i> (film) 2005 film by Luc Dardenne, Jean-Pierre Dardenne

L'Enfant is a 2005 Belgian film directed by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, starring Jérémie Renier and Déborah François. The film was released under its French title in the US, and as The Child in the UK.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bong Joon-ho</span> South Korean filmmaker (born 1969)

Bong Joon-ho is a South Korean film director, producer and screenwriter. The recipient of three Academy Awards, his filmography is characterised by emphasis on social and class themes, genre-mixing, black humor, and sudden tone shifts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dardenne brothers</span> Belgian film directors, screenwriters and film producers

Brothers Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne, collectively referred to as the Dardenne brothers, are a Belgian filmmaking duo. They write, produce, and direct their films together. They also own the production company Les Films du Fleuve.

<i>The Unknown Girl</i> 2016 film by Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne

The Unknown Girl is a 2016 mystery drama film directed by the Dardenne brothers, and starring Adèle Haenel, Jérémie Renier, and Louka Minnella.

<i>Parasite</i> (2019 film) 2019 film by Bong Joon-ho

Parasite is a 2019 South Korean dark comedy thriller film directed by Bong Joon-ho, who co-wrote and co-produced the film with Han Jin-won. The film, starring Song Kang-ho, Lee Sun-kyun, Cho Yeo-jeong, Choi Woo-shik, Park So-dam, Jang Hye-jin, Park Myung-hoon, and Lee Jung-eun, follows a poor family who infiltrate the life of a wealthy family.

<i>Happy as Lazzaro</i> 2018 film by Alice Rohrwacher

Happy as Lazzaro is a 2018 Italian-language fantasy drama film written and directed by Alice Rohrwacher. It was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, where Rohrwacher won the award for Best Screenplay. It is a co-production between Italy, Switzerland, France and Germany.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2019 Cannes Film Festival</span> Film festival

The 72nd annual Cannes Film Festival took place from 14 to 25 May 2019. Mexican filmmaker Alejandro González Iñárritu served as jury president. The Palme d'Or went to the South Korean film Parasite, directed by Bong Joon-ho; Bong became the first Korean director to win the award.

<i>Atlantics</i> 2019 supernatural drama film

Atlantics is a 2019 internationally co-produced supernatural romantic drama film directed by Mati Diop, in her feature directorial debut. It was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival. Diop made history when the film premiered at Cannes, becoming the first Black woman to direct a film featured in competition at the festival.

<i>Little Joe</i> (film) 2019 film

Little Joe is a 2019 internationally co-produced drama film directed by Jessica Hausner. Starring Emily Beecham as Alice Woodard, a plant breeder and single mother who creates "Little Joe", a plant that gives its caretakers joy.

<i>Bacurau</i> 2019 film by Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles

Bacurau is a 2019 Weird Western film written and directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles. It stars Sônia Braga, Udo Kier, Bárbara Colen, Thomas Aquino, Silvero Pereira, and Karine Teles. The film, a co-production between Brazil and France, revolves around Bacurau, a fictional small town in the Brazilian sertão that is beset by strange happenings following the death of its matriarch, Carmelita, at the age of 94. The film was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, and won the Jury Prize.

<i>Portrait of a Lady on Fire</i> 2019 French film by Céline Sciamma

Portrait of a Lady on Fire is a 2019 French historical romantic drama film written and directed by Céline Sciamma, starring Noémie Merlant and Adèle Haenel. Set in France in the late 18th century, the film tells the story of a lesbian sexual affair between two young women: an aristocrat and a painter commissioned to paint her portrait. It marked Haenel's final film role prior to her retirement from the French film industry in 2023.

<i>It Must Be Heaven</i> 2019 film

It Must Be Heaven is a 2019 internationally co-produced comedy-drama film directed, written and starred by Elia Suleiman. It was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mati Diop</span> French film director and actress

Mati Diop is a French film director and actress. She won the Grand Prix at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival for her feature film debut, the supernatural romantic drama Atlantics, and the Golden Bear at the 2024 Berlin International Film Festival for her second feature film, the documentary Dahomey. As an actress, she is known for the drama film 35 Shots of Rum (2008).

<i>On a Magical Night</i> 2019 film by Christophe Honoré

On a Magical Night is a 2019 comedy-drama film written and directed by Christophe Honoré and starring Chiara Mastroianni, Vincent Lacoste, Camille Cottin and Benjamin Biolay. It premiered in the Un Certain Regard section of the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, where Mastroianni won the award for Best Performance.

<i>Our Mothers</i> 2019 film

Our Mothers is a 2019 internationally co-produced drama film written and directed by César Díaz.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">César Díaz (film director)</span> Belgian-Guatemalan film director

César Díaz is a Belgian-Guatemalan film director, screenwriter and editor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bong Joon-ho filmography</span>

Bong Joon-ho is a South Korean film director, producer, and screenwriter who began his career in 1994 after creating the short films White Man, Memories in My Frame, and Incoherence. In 1997, Bong wrote the feature film Motel Cactus, for which he also served as an assistant director. Two years later, he wrote Phantom: The Submarine, and later made his feature-length directorial debut with Barking Dogs Never Bite (2000). In the following years, Bong wrote and directed Memories of Murder (2003), The Host (2006), Mother (2009), and Snowpiercer (2013), films which received "universal acclaim" from critics.

<i>Aheds Knee</i> 2021 film by Nadav Lapid

Ahed's Knee is a 2021 internationally co-produced drama film directed by Nadav Lapid. It was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival. At Cannes, the film shared the Jury Prize with Memoria by Apichatpong Weerasethakul.

<i>Sleep</i> (2023 film) 2023 film by Jason Yu

Sleep is a 2023 South Korean black comedy horror mystery thriller film written and directed by Jason Yu, in his feature debut. The film stars Jung Yu-mi and Lee Sun-kyun. It screened in the Critics' Week section at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival on 21 May 2023. It was released in South Korea on 6 September 2023. Lee died on 27 December 2023, making Sleep one of his final film appearances.

References

  1. "The Screenings Guide 2019". 9 May 2019. Retrieved 9 May 2019.
  2. "Young Ahmed (2020)". Box Office Mojo . IMDb . Retrieved 28 February 2020.
  3. "Young Ahmed (2020)". The Numbers . Retrieved 28 February 2020.
  4. "'Young Ahmed' Trailer: The Dardennes Craft A Controversial Film About A Radicalized Muslim Teen That's Heading To Cannes". theplaylist.net. Retrieved 26 April 2019.
  5. "Cannes festival 2019: full list of films". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 April 2019.
  6. "Bong Joon-ho's Parasite wins Palme d'Or at Cannes film festival". The Guardian. 25 May 2019. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
  7. "Young Ahmed (2019)". Rotten Tomatoes . Fandango . Retrieved 10 October 2021.
  8. "Young Ahmed Reviews". Metacritic . CBS Interactive . Retrieved 13 August 2020.
  9. "Bong Joon-ho's Parasite Wins the Palme d'Or at Cannes". Variety. 25 May 2019. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
  10. Goodfellow, Melanie (29 January 2020). "Roman Polanski's 'An Officer And A Spy' tops César nominations". Screen Daily. Retrieved 29 January 2020.
  11. Lemercier, Fabien (3 December 2019). "Les Misérables domine les nominations pour les Lumières" (in French). Cineuropa. Retrieved 12 January 2020.
  12. Dricot, Lucy (1 February 2020). "Découvrez le palmarès complet de la 10e cérémonie des Magritte du cinéma" (in French). RTBF. Retrieved 1 February 2020.
  13. Rivera, Alfonso (29 October 2019). "This Year's Seminci Golden Spike Is Bound for Mongolia". Cineuropa. Retrieved 24 January 2020.