STEVE + SKY
Year: 2004
USA: Lifesize Entertainment
Cast: Titus De Voogdt, Delfine Bafort, Johan Heldenbergh, Romy Bollion, Wine Dierickx, Vanessa Van Durme, Sylvie Buytaert, Didier De Neck, Bart Dauwe, Sam Bogaerts, Wouter Bruneel, Herwig Deweerdt, Jonas Boel, Françoise Vanhecke
Director: Felix Van Groeningen
Country: Belgium
Language: Dutch (English subtitles)
USA: 97 mins
USA Release Date: 8 July 2005 (Limited Release)
US Distributor
Synopsis
Remarkable acting, striking visuals and a pulsating soundtrack by Soulwax highlight Felix van Groeningen's hip, sexy pic set against the backdrop of an Antwerp strip club. Steve,a diminutive ex-con, struggles to accept his burgeoning relationship with Sky, an uninhibited statuesque blonde dancer. Van Groeningen stylishly juxtaposes the bleached reality of every day life with the bright neon of the red light district to create a memorable romance of unexpected intimacy.
Steve is a small-time, not so bright crook, busted with a bag full of narcotics he was merely transporting for some cash. In prison he befriends Jean-Claude, his wheelchair-bound cellmate, who teaches him a new trade: motorcycle theft. Released from prison a few months later and three weeks after Jean-Claude, Steve sets out to find his only friend and embark on their new career together.
Sky is a somewhat naive, banana split loving beauty working as a prostitute in a brothel. She hands over her earnings to her boyfriend's mother in order to pay for his treatments at the local psychiatric ward. When he escapes and sees her in a window in the red-light district, he fails to recognize her altruistic purposes and assaults her. With a fresh black eye and new single status, Sky abandons her life of prostitution and goes looking for an old friend at his new gentlemen's club: Steve's ex-cellmate, Jean-Claude.
Steve arrives at Jean-Claude's lounge days before the grand re-opening and is immediately enamored with the gorgeous and mysterious Sky. She in turn is intrigued by Steve's brazen attitude and psuedo-badboy image. Thrust together in the surreal world of Jean-Claude's club, they both struggle to find their place in life, first individually and then simultaneously as a couple. The juxtaposition of the bleached reality of every day life with the bright neon lights of the night reflects the ups and downs of this young couple's stormy love affair.
