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"We're rich bums"
Lolo and the Kid might be a polarizing film due to its subject matter. An older man uses the orphan he raised to con childless couples. They live day to day, spending their ill-gotten gains at the amusement park and karaoke bars.
Whenever Lolo runs short of cash, he leaves Kid near an ice cream cart with some money and goes to Childless Couple Lane to scout out people who will empathize with the small waif and want to take him in. The two scam what they can out of the caring clueless couples before moving on. After they blow through their money, they find another sympathetic couple to rob. Lolo’s conscience begins to get the best of him, knowing that Kid wants to go to school.
Lolo’s words and actions were highly contradictory. He divided the world into those who cheat and those who get cheated. Portrayed as a kindly grandfather character, he taught Kid to be respectful of others and to not curse. All of which seemed preposterous when he had Kid literally steal from the couples they scammed. What troubled me the most were the couples the duo targeted. Emotionally vulnerable couples who could not conceive or have children of their own, were dangled a desired child to care for and then woke up the next day having been robbed. Lolo’s love for the abandoned boy could not make up for the harm they caused. And ultimately, that’s what the film focused on. Lolo was uneducated and poor and the childless couples, or in the one case, a single woman who had overcome a traumatic past, were rich and therefore their feelings did not matter. If they had been evil child dealers or abusive tyrants instead of people who sought to keep a child from sleeping on the streets, Lolo’s actions wouldn’t have been as reprehensible. Also, the repetitive scams began to make this 90 minute film feel much longer.
The two main actors actually did a fine job, especially little Euwenn Mikaell as Kid. While the con artist's sense of moral and parental responsibility finally ran him down like a Mack truck, I struggled to feel moved. And the director worked hard to emotionally manipulate me in nearly every scene. Lolo and the Kid had a few compelling moments, but for the most part, in trying to make everyone involved kind and caring, the film lost its edge and unintentionally made Lolo’s schemes sadistic.
3 February 2025
Trigger warning: Kenny Roger's "Through the Years" was sung badly and often throughout the film.
Whenever Lolo runs short of cash, he leaves Kid near an ice cream cart with some money and goes to Childless Couple Lane to scout out people who will empathize with the small waif and want to take him in. The two scam what they can out of the caring clueless couples before moving on. After they blow through their money, they find another sympathetic couple to rob. Lolo’s conscience begins to get the best of him, knowing that Kid wants to go to school.
Lolo’s words and actions were highly contradictory. He divided the world into those who cheat and those who get cheated. Portrayed as a kindly grandfather character, he taught Kid to be respectful of others and to not curse. All of which seemed preposterous when he had Kid literally steal from the couples they scammed. What troubled me the most were the couples the duo targeted. Emotionally vulnerable couples who could not conceive or have children of their own, were dangled a desired child to care for and then woke up the next day having been robbed. Lolo’s love for the abandoned boy could not make up for the harm they caused. And ultimately, that’s what the film focused on. Lolo was uneducated and poor and the childless couples, or in the one case, a single woman who had overcome a traumatic past, were rich and therefore their feelings did not matter. If they had been evil child dealers or abusive tyrants instead of people who sought to keep a child from sleeping on the streets, Lolo’s actions wouldn’t have been as reprehensible. Also, the repetitive scams began to make this 90 minute film feel much longer.
The two main actors actually did a fine job, especially little Euwenn Mikaell as Kid. While the con artist's sense of moral and parental responsibility finally ran him down like a Mack truck, I struggled to feel moved. And the director worked hard to emotionally manipulate me in nearly every scene. Lolo and the Kid had a few compelling moments, but for the most part, in trying to make everyone involved kind and caring, the film lost its edge and unintentionally made Lolo’s schemes sadistic.
3 February 2025
Trigger warning: Kenny Roger's "Through the Years" was sung badly and often throughout the film.
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