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Review: ‘The Bikeriders’ — Inconsistent Biker Drama Disappoints

The latest film from lowkey auteur Jeff Nichols can’t seem to find its purpose

Reece Beckett
Counter Arts

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Still from The Bikeriders, via Focus Features/Tri-State Pictures/New Regency Pictures/Regency Enterprises/Universal Pictures

Since the beginning of his career in independent American cinema, director Jeff Nichols has shown a distinctive interest in the largely working class communities of the Southern United States. His major breakthrough film, and perhaps his best work to date, is 2011’s Take Shelter finds its brilliance in two key elements — the stunning performance of Michael Shannon (hardly a surprise, Shannon has always been a great performer) and the film’s reliance on the mental states of its characters to conjure up its drama and tension. That film, about a man plagued by visions of an incoming, almost apocalyptic scale storm, utilises Nichols’ ability to write convincing, authentic characters to then tap into its themes of belief, mental illness and how modern lifestyles slowly nudge us towards poorer mental health.

Outsider characters, since then, have been a staple of Nichols’ work. All three of his features following Take Shelter continued that interest, and it saw Nichols find his style — along with a couple of terrific actors, Nichols finds the beating heart of outsider characters and derives his drama from their conflict with what is really expected of them. Mud is exemplary of this —…

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