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FILM REVIEWS<br />
can be responsible for the state of the wider world. But her<br />
actions in response to that trauma only serve to perpetuate the<br />
kind of destruction and loss that creates so many lost souls, and<br />
as such, Ngô seems to be suggesting that films like this, which<br />
under one reading are feminist texts, ultimately only serve to<br />
feed the culture of violence, and violence against women in<br />
particular.<br />
It’s a fascinating kind of self-critique, clever and effective, albeit<br />
one that is in turn undermined by the fact that one of the men<br />
prominently involved in the production, serving as producer as<br />
well as helping with the English subtitles, is former Weinstein<br />
associate and accused sex pest Bey Logan, a man so odious that<br />
boutique label 88 Films recently had to back down in the face of<br />
a boycott after rumors spread that they were going to hire him<br />
for some upcoming special features. It’s a truly baffling decision<br />
for an otherwise thoughtful and self-aware film and filmmaker. <strong>—</strong><br />
SEAN GILMAN<br />
DIRECTOR: Veronica Ngo; CAST: Đồng Ánh Quỳnh, Rima Thanh<br />
Vy, Tóc Tiên, Thuận Nguyễn; DISTRIBUTOR: Netflix; STREAMING:<br />
March 23; RUNTIME: 1 hr. 49 min.<br />
RODEO<br />
Lola Quivoron<br />
Outside the confines of polite Parisian society, there lies a wild<br />
west on wheels, in a subculture known as the urban rodeo.<br />
Though participation is criminalized and heavily criticized, the<br />
exhilarating, and dangerous, motorbike subculture at the center<br />
of Rodeo acts as a catalyst for community. This is director Lola<br />
Quivoron’s narrative feature debut, but it isn’t her first time<br />
behind the camera <strong>—</strong> she released Au loin, Baltimore, a short<br />
documentary set within the same scene, in 2016. Rodeo follows<br />
Julia (played by first-time actor Julie Ledru, who Quivoron<br />
discovered via Instagram bike clips), a lone wolf dirt bike rider on<br />
the fringes of a larger crew on the circuit called the B-Mores, who<br />
run a bike shop repairing and selling stolen bikes. Though she<br />
hasn’t mastered the risky stunts the group is known for, she<br />
shares their bravado, and better yet, a penchant for risk, stealing<br />
bikes for them later on. The crew is ruled from afar by Domino<br />
(Sébastien Schroeder), currently behind bars, but it’s Kais (Yanis<br />
Lafki) who invites Julia into the fold. In another film, this would<br />
be a setup for a romance over their shared interests, but Rodeo’s<br />
script is far more interested in thornier dynamics.<br />
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