Cannes review: “Rodeo” by Lola Quivoron

RodeoThe powerful and impressive debut of Lola Quivoron, who ambitiously tries to put a big heart into a gang movie that quietly and organically morphs into a robbery thriller, but doesn’t know how to blend those lines into a satisfying ending. While it promises all the hallmarks of a cult crossover and is eagerly approaching delivery, the fate of the Un Certain Regard title is likely to be the festival club, where it certainly stands out as a very different type of ritual film.

Newcomer Julie Ledru plays the role of Julia, who lives in and out of social housing with her brother and mother. Julia’s relationship with her mother is full and on the verge of collapse; She has a job, but her presence is unusual. The only reason she’s obsessed is motocross, and because it’s a hobby she can’t afford, she poses as a shopper on Craigslist-style websites and lures owners to give it a try.

It is one such stolen bike that enters the underground world of the Urban Rodeo, a form of acrobatic ballet involving a motocross and four motorcycles, usually of dubious origin, where suspects and aliens flee like Julia. She finds out when she tries to travel with the B-More gang. The knights turn him on until he meets a friendly eye in the form of the respected Major Abra, but news of the impending police raid wreaks havoc and Abra is badly injured in the ensuing confusion.

Kais (Ian Lafke) has noticed Julia’s cautious entry into the garage / gang club, the illegal shop, where the bikes are rearranged and new numbers are assigned. Not everyone else is so welcome, the less overtly hostile Manel (Korea Junior), but Julia convinces Kais to stay in the garage for the night. About her Her remarkable troublemaking abilities go unnoticed and Kais introduces her to the shadow leader of the gang, who runs the operation from a jail cell and calls her by Julia’s new name: Stranger.

Julia stands out in this new family of strangers, partaking in the daily activities that bring her closer to her boss’s seemingly tough but personally vulnerable wife, Ophelia (Antonia Bures), who lives with their precocious son, Killian. As a team member, Julia reveals a plan she has been working on for months: a daring robbery of a van carrying a full load of bikes while the car is still in transit.

For its debut, Quivoron’s film is sweetly confident, getting dirty in a world of grease and gas without excessive fetishism and romance. Ledru is also an extraordinarily imposing presence; While his acting style doesn’t come from school, which isn’t as effective in his more emotional scenes with Ofelia (Bures really does a very good and sophisticated job here), it adds further ambiguity when it comes to that. For the second time I sensed Julia’s true devotion.

However, the conspiracy is the film’s Achilles heel and later laid the foundation for electrifying Petro-Punk. cliff, Rodeo It eventually takes a left turn, which restores the confusing subplot and generally ditches realism for a wild twist on symbolism that briefly connects all of our (high) expectations and leaves unsatisfying flavors. However, as a business card, it is quite impressive and shows that Quivoron can work with both the heart and the gut. However, at this point, the correct relationship simply does not exist.