Bye Bye

French director Karim Dridi's Bye Bye is entrenched in ‘90's realism--fourteen year old kids sell crack, young lovers find release on the dingy stairway of an apartment building, racial tensions and violence spread like spray paint on the walls. As two French-Arab brothers grow up amidst warring cultures, overbearing relatives, and the mean streets of Marseilles, their lives hang on the edge while their futures become more uncertain. Yet unlike other movies which portray the explosive existence of urban teens, such as Mathieu Kassovitz's Hate, Bye Bye moves more languidly, capturing moments of solitude and tenderness within the chaos. Recommended. (L. Russo)