Sister Reviews

Meier shows she can manage a sad subject with sensitivity, but it is Klein who completely shines as the adorable, charismatic young protagonist. However, the film doesn't seem to know how to end, and the two only English-speaking characters added to the story are superfluous.

This was Switzerland's official submission for foreign language film at the 2013 Oscars. I saw it at our local Cinematheque prior to attending an Oscars party. Simon and Louise are trying to get by as best they can in their low rent apartment at the base of a mountain ski resort. It is hard to turn your eyes away from the acts of really desperate people, and they are surely not very virtuous. Still it is difficult to root for these two young antiheroes. The title is misleading and the incestuous moments will probably make many audience members squirm.

Switzerland's entry for Best Foreign Language film (it will or won't be nominated come Thursday morning although it has already been announced as one of the Top 9 contenders by that organization) is about young Simon and his older sister who live in a housing complex at the base of a mountain housing a luxury ski resort/chalet. Simon (Kacey Mottet Klein) steals from the rich customers who have so much they are none the wiser and his sister Louise (Lea Seydoux) wanders aimlessly from man to man looking for a possible guy to take them both into his life. It is an honest, unflinching composite of poverty and survival and Mottet Klein does an outstanding job in his role as someone who takes chances because he has nothing (or everything) to lose. Seydoux again impresses (this time in an un-likeable role) as her Louise is one who needs to grow-up and learn a thing or two; but without knowing much of where these two came from we cannot fault either of them too much. Gillian Anderson (The X-Files, The House of Mirth) shows up in a few scenes as an English tourist Simon wishes to impress. We are all so quick to judge but oftentimes we know nothing of what we are talking about. Sister asks us to take a glimpse.

L'enfant d'en haut is a desperately powerful film.With an amazing performance from young Kacey Mottet Klein,and an acute,realistic portraying of a tough role by Léa Seydoux.

An intense film about a young boy becoming the bread-winner of his family by stealing equipment at a ski resort.

A Dardenne-esque kind of movie, the leads are convincing unlike the English speaking actors, so unfortunate to see the waste of Gillian Anderson talent

Definitely one of the best foreign films of 2012, if not THE best. A pleasant surprise.

Ursula Meier's "Sister" fits neatly into the trend of grimly realistic social dramas coming out of the continent in the last 3 or 4 years. Telling the story of Simon, the intelligent, grew-up-too-fast, young thief and his irresponsible, easy, older sister Louise scraping through life in a miserable town at the foot of a Swiss ski resort it bears all the hallmarks of the modern, socially aware movie revealing the difficulties of the ignored and disenfranchised.

And it's not bad. The leading pair are engaging to watch and the script, while minamalist, does the job (though a few laughs here and there wouldn't have hurt). Some of the imagery works well - the lonely, silent cable car rides up and down the mountain really emphasising the gap that exists between the rich skiers and outcasts below.

The film does, however, fail to carve a unique space for itself among it's peers. The themes of a socially destructive, abandoned young boy and outcast pregnant teen were aptly covered by Luc and Jean Pierre Dardenne's "The Child" and "The Kid With A Bike" fairly recently, both better, more emotionally resonant films than this one. We are introduced to Simon in his thievery, any attempt at justification that he is stealing from rich people so it's ok failing to sink in my mind, leaving me to conclude that he's just a little shit to begin with. While I did eventually sympathise with him, it simply wasn't as powerfully as I was able to connect with the main characters from the Dardenne's films, though the crimes of their protagonists are often less forgiveable. Ultimately, this meant that the later scenes in "Sister" failed to have the punch required to serve as a climax.

The supporting cast is poorly utilised as well. The adoptive mother character (Gillian Anderson looking in her element) and the Scottish restaurant worker could both have been allowed greater impact but are instead left well on the periphery.

All in all, where this film could have succeeded, I feel others have already triumphed and this effort does too little to recommend itself to the memory.

Twelve-year-old Simon and his big sister Louise live in an ugly apartment block near the base of a fancy Swiss ski resort. Each day, Simon heads up the mountain to steal everything he can get his little mitts on: skis, goggles, sunglasses, helmets, sandwiches, and yes, even mitts. Once he's lugged his loot back home, he sells it to the other kids in the neighborhood who all seem to have plenty of pocket cash despite lacking basic winter accessories like gloves.

Simon uses the money he makes to support himself and Louise. When he's not out hustling, he's home doing laundry or waxing the stolen skis. Louise, meanwhile, spends her time running off with a series of ne'er-do-well boyfriends and blowing through Simon's earnings. Still, Simon clearly loves her and appears both hurt and concerned each time she ends their brief interludes of family togetherness to take up with yet another creep.

"Sister" is not an easy film to watch. Despite his worldliness, Simon is a sad and lonely kid. During a couple of chance encounters with an attractive English woman (Gillian Anderson of the X-Files) who's there on a ski vacation with her two kids, Simon's longing to be part of her family is palpable.

It's also one of those movies with an abrupt, ambiguous ending, though I had actually thought it was about to end a few minutes earlier, so was thankful for at least a tiny bit more closure. I suppose after recently complaining that the apparently mandatory nature of happy endings in Hollywood movies removes any doubt as to where a story is headed, I should find it refreshing to be unclear on where a story is headed even after the movie is over, but I guess some people are just never happy.

Films of 2012: Sleep Tight, Sister, Pieta, End Of Watch, The Dark Knight Rises, The Amazing Spiderman, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Pitch Perfect, The Watch, Ruby Sparks, Your Sister's Sister, Django Unchained, Flight

Esto si que es una genialidad. De las mejores del año sin duda. Mi recimendacion del año se la doy a esta maravilla.

One of this year's very best . Include a will of most humanly needful thing that couldn't denied by.

screw Stanley kauffmann's positive review he has poor taste

i want to watch a movie

Anyone who has lived in a ski town can relate to this film, except for he is stealing race ski's instead of Hellbents, but that is minor detail.

Lea Seydoux continues to pick great projects. This is a beautifully subtle film that captures the lives of its characters perfectly.

Shocking, but very true.