Anemoia with a growling engine and one hot rider.
The Bikeriders, the new film from Jeff Nichols throbs with energy and aches with nostalgia for a mystical and mythical period of American history. Adapted from The Bikeriders, a photo journal by Danny Lyon who spent 8 years in the 60s documenting Chicago-based biker gang The Outlaws (renamed as The Vandals for the film), Nichols takes the indelible images from the book, coupled with monologues of interviews with key players of the scene and paints a sprawling, epic and loosely plotted sweep of the tragic, romantic ‘death’ of the original biker clubs and the rise of the gangs. It’s loud, it’s pulsating, it sticky and furious. It’s a film more interested in myth and atmosphere than plot or narrative.
Anchored by three outstanding performances from Austin Butler as the hot young firebrand Benny, a dangerous biker and an outsider even in his own club, Tom Hardy as Johnny, the Brando-aping President of the club who can give the audience an ‘uh-oh’ reaction with the mere twinge of an eyelid and the sensational Jodie Comer who is the heart and thrust of the film as Cathy – Benny’s put upon wife, and the audience’s guide through this world. In the film, Cathy is interviewed by Danny Lyon, played with ease by Mike Faist and its Cathy’s propulsive and magnetic monologues that provide the voice over of the film. Through Cathy we get an introduction to the world, the players, the fights, the rules, the hierarchies the glories and the tragedies. Like Lorraine Bracco’s voiceover in Goodfellas, Comer sells the audience on the allure of the lifestyle, but also the disgust at their behaviour. All performed with a machine-gun pace and a stunningly natural sense of bewilderment and fascination.
