Dir: Antoine Chevrollier | Cast: Sayyid El Alami, Amaury Foucher, Damien Bonnard, Florence Janas, Artus Solaro, Dahan Lamort, Axelle Fresneau, Mathieu Demy
Motorcross racing makes for a high octane subject in this stylish teenage buddy movie from French filmmaker Antoine Chevroillier.
The Loire-born director is competing for the Golden Camera in the Cannes’ Semaine de la Critique competition and shares script duties with Bérénice Bocquillon and Faïza Guène in his big screen debut which stars Damien Bonnard and Mathieu Demy alongside Sayyid El Alami the young lead of his hit TV series Ouseekine.
Teenagers Jojo (El Alami) and Willy (Solaro) have been inseparable since childhood and spend their all free time training at the Pampa race track honing their biking skills much to the annoyance of their parents (Mathieu Demy, Damien Bonnard) who want them to focus on school work. And what starts as a heady, fun-filled romp soon turns into something more serious as Willy’s long held secret threatens to destroy not only their friendship but also the unsteady relationship there have with parents.
This dazzlingly photographed portrait of teenage ennui kicks over the usual intergenerational conflicts: truancy, drugs, etc and also adds sex to the list. The summery rural landscapes of France provide a pastoral contrast to a story of lost childhood and tainted dreams in A well-paced action drama punctuated by tension fuelled conflicts between the boys and their parents and two terrific central performances by El Alami and Solaro. @MeredithTaylor
SEMAINE DE LA CRITIQUE | CANNES FILM FESTIVAL 2024