Rodeo

At the centre of Lola Quivoron’s visionary debut is a young woman, as strong as she is headstrong, amid the male-dominated world of French biker gangs.

“I was born with a bike between my legs,” says Julia as she throttles up, leaving the owner of the motorbike to see only her middle finger in the distance. On the back roads of France, this young woman from Guadeloupe speeds away from her socioeconomic background – and into a biker gang that steals other people’s motorbikes to make money and performs reckless stunts on the road with their own bikes. If Julia wants to follow her passion, she must assert herself in a world where the boss’s wife is hardly ever allowed to leave the house and a man’s honour is easily offended.

Lola Quivoron’s directing runs smoothly like a well-oiled engine in a film assembled from stylish hip-hop grooves, fast-paced action film sequences and dizzying camerawork. It runs at high RPM, powered in every scene by the same fuel: the impressive acting of newcomer Julie Ledru.

Director