Jeff Nichols brings The Bikeriders to theaters on June 19, 2024. Inspired by the story of American photographer Danny Lyon, who documented the life of a Midwestern biker club from 1965 to 1967, to the point of becoming part of their gang and living alongside them, the film recounts the creation and rise of the fictional Chicago Vandals club.
Inevitably influenced by Easy Rider and Sons of Anarchy, the film perfectly captures the sense of freedom that pervaded American society in the 60s, supported by a soulful, rock'n'roll soundtrack. The United States had not yet taken part in the Vietnam War on a massive scale, and theemancipation of society involved culture and an interest in hitherto underground leisure activities.
From its beginnings as a simple race car (created out of admiration for Marlon Brando in L'Équipée sauvage) to the moral downfall of the Vandals, overtaken by a new generation, traumatized by the war, who don't share their values, Jeff Nichols brilliantly captures an era when everything still seemed possible. The American filmmaker chooses a female point of view to recount this epic, that of Kathy(Jodie Comer, excellent as always), who enters this testosterone-fueled world willy-nilly.
The introduction to the various members of the gang takes the form of still, face-on camera shots, a nod to Danny Lyon's portrait shots. Under the guidance of Johnny(Tom Hardy, particularly invested in the role), the Chicago Vandals are played by a first-rate cast, including Michael Shannon, who signs his sixth collaboration with the director of Take Shelter, Norman Reedus (The Walking Dead) as a laughing biker from a rival club, and Austin Butler, with his blond, dark and mute angel face, Johnny's right-hand man.
They're all hamming it up, to be sure, and their heavy Midwestern accents have something to do with it, but the film also brings out the cracks in these outcasts rejected by life, questioning their masculinity and their need to belong to a group. After all, the Vandals weren't always tough guys. In fact, The Bikeriders tells the story of love-starved little boys who, to recreate the family they never had, surround themselves with roaring engines.
