When we meet Julia (Julie Ledru), this feral loner demonstrates her predatory nature by conning a hapless seller out of his motorcycle. But when she crashes a local “rodeo”—a high-octane, higher testosterone underground motocross circuit where brash bikers one-up one another—it’s apparent that she’ll need to raise her game all the more. After employing her guile to tenuously insinuate herself in this cut-throat clique, she must deliver something showstopping if she’s to stick around. As it so happens, she has an idea for an audacious heist.
Ledru brings a gunslinger’s bearing to Lola Quivoron’s adrenaline-charged film, which is shot in Western-indebted CinemaScope by Raphaël Vandenbussche. Drawing from childhood memories of illicit motocross competitions in her Paris suburb, Quivoron captures both the exhilaration and peril associated with these machines when their full power is unleashed. And while Rodeo boasts tour-de-force stuntwork, its character dynamics are equally transfixing: Julia has entered a world in which every encounter is as perilous as hairpin turn.
“Coup de coeur” Prize, Cannes 2022 (Un Certain Regard)
Q&A Oct 4 & Oct 6
Supported by
Media Partner
Lola Quivoron
Julie Ledru, Yanis Lafki, Antonia Buresi, Cody Schroeder, Louis Sotton, Junior Correia
France
2022
In French with English subtitles
Book Tickets
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
Everybody to Kenmure Street
This rousing documentary (100% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) never puts a foot wrong as it recreates a tense, prolonged stand-off between the police and the citizens of Glasgow when an Immigration Enforcement squad attempt to arrest two men from their homes.
Another World
This hit anime from Hong Kong gives us an unpredictable, sometimes darkly karmic tale taking place on either side of the afterlife involving a headstrong princess with bad karma and the spirit guide who tries to help her get on a better path.
Alipato At Muog (Flying Embers & A Fortress)
Burgos' impassioned documentary about the military abduction of his brother Jonas, an activist and organizer, and the subsequent cover-up, recently became only the second doc to win the Filipino Academy Award for Best Film.
Mistura
This foodie film from Peru tells the story of a newly single socialite reinventing herself — and the local cuisine — after her husband has left her for a younger woman. Along the way, she finds support from unexpected places...
GoodFellas
The ultimate crash and burn movie, Scorsese's exhilarating gangster film is infused with the excitement of fast cash, girls, guns and drugs. Yet this brazenly amoral movie also captures the brutality, betrayal, and spiritual void of the criminal world.
Credits
Producer
Charles Gillibert
Screenwriter
Lola Quivoron, Antonia Buresi
Cinematography
Raphaël Vandenbussche
Editor
Rafael Torres Calderon
Production Design
Gabrielle Desjean
Original Music
Kelman Duran