Eldorado

A portly, unkempt man is driving his enormous blue American station wagon through the Belgian countryside. Upon returning to his apartment, he senses there's been a break-in. Armed with his drainpipe, he prepares to meet the robber. But the timid robber's hiding under the bed and refuses to come out. The thief stays under the bed, the man next to him in a chair, neither budging until morning. Thus begins a most unusual relationship between two taciturn strangers who know nothing of each other. The portly one is a mechanic named Yvan, a loner who restores old American cars when he feels like it. He ditches his job to take the young thief on a road trip to his parents' house near the French border. Along the way the men are thrown together with various people so peculiar that they themselves look sane and responsible by comparison. Allied and on the verge of something approaching friendship, they visit the young man's mother. An episode with a wounded dog finally demonstrates that their bond isn't what it seemed. ELDORADO is a quirky film with a quirky soundtrack and a deadpan sense of humor, starring director Bouli Lanners as Yvan. (In French with English subtitles) – B.B.