VIFF Previews #5: Rodeo and The Killing of a Journalist

People with a fondness for antiheroes in film, or who have an interest in films that document unique subcultures worldwide, should take a look at Rodeo this VIFF, in which a fast-talking young French woman with a passion for motorcycles hustles her way into a bike club-cum-chop shop and gets involved  in stealing bikes for them. While she's a bold, fearless con artist and thief, she is less able than the other members of the club to pop death-defying wheelies, and so has to work to win their trust and respect - which she does not entirely do... 

Julia is not exactly a pleasant character, veering from sullen boredom and spitting contrariness to unabashed, whooping pleasure when she rips off a bike and bombs away on it, which she does more than once in the film, but she's entirely believable and brought vividly to life by actress Julie Ledru (her feature debut; she's someone to watch). Julia is not without a kind side, and surprisingly easy to identify with; you'll share her rush at the audacity of some of her hustles, which when they succeed all-too-briefly lift her above the mundane depression of her everyday life. I could identify with her glee at successful thefts with the adrenaline that comes, for me, from walking away from a thrift store having bought a book or record for far less than it is worth - far too rare a feeling, these days! So to will your inner conman be able to take pleasure in her aggressive, determined, crafty conniving.

There's a lot to Rodeo that I don't want to give away, but first I must confess, good lapsed Catholic that I am, that I did not love all its parts equally. While I approach all films hoping I will love them - and these days am shying away from writing anything at all about films I don't, because life is short, and I don't want to harm a film just because I didn't personally care for it -  Rodeo's ending left me wondering a) if I'd missed something, b) why the filmmakers felt the need to add an element of the supernatural to things, which seemed out of place with the gritty realism on hand elsewhere, and c) if they couldn't have perhaps found a more compelling climax for their story, on par with the gripping theft and stunt riding scenes. While being coy about specifics, I wanted more! (Or possibly was just bummed). But overall I thought the film was a riveting "ride," if you'll excuse me, and I'll be letting the Vicious Cycles MC (the only bike club I have had dealings with, who, note, are considerably more moral than the one in the film) know about this film for sure. Free blurb time: Rodeo - screening October 4th and 6th - should appeal anyone interested in subcultures, whether sports-related or criminal, as well as gritty French cinema. If you like films to take you to places you've never imagined and allow you to identify with people you'd hate to run across in real life, Rodeo is a must-see. More information on the VIFF website. 

Even more highly recommended - though it hung up, buffering, so frequently as a screener that I began to wonder if there was some sort of Slovakian mafia conspiracy to make it hard to watch - is The Killing of a Journalist. I was initially disappointed to learn that the film, as I first had assumed, wasn't about the Saudi murder of Jamal Khashoggi, but once I settled in, I was totally gripped, though the film is less about the investigations into state corruption that led to the 2018 murders of investigative journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancee Martina Kušnírová than it is about their aftermath, and how, after the murders, the people of Slovakia, including Kuciak's colleagues, reacted, including by turning out in demonstration after demonstration, waving placards like "An attack on a journalist is an attack on us all" - which protests over time put enough pressure on authorities that something like justice transpires (if partial - the film's ultimate bad guy, Marián Kočner, who reminds one a bit of Paulie in Goodfellas, apparently still eludes conviction for the murders at the end of the film, even though the evidence is fairly damning, and he has been jailed for other crimes). There is a sublime pleasure in watching Kuciak's fellow journalists grill the Slovakian "President of Police" (standing to the left side of the photo below) about how he did nothing to protect Kuciak, including a blunt declaration on the part of one reporter that "we don't trust you," which somehow reminded me of watching George W. Bush get a shoe thrown at him (it's almost that satisfyingly direct, though, really, even better for being more civil). All three of the men in the photo below, also including, going from L to R, the Prime Minister and the Minister of the Interior, will be, if I recall correctly, arrested and tried for corruption over the course of the film. The guy on the right with the guiltiest look on his face was the first to resign, to his credit. Note that this is the Prime Minister of Slovakia offering a million Euro reward for information that helped solved the case, which offer seems to have insulted Slovakians more than it won their fealty:

I don't want to say any more than I have to about the film, so you can watch events unfold - any lack of familiarity you have with the subject matter will not lessen your enjoyment of it - but I should add here that I normally don't enjoy "true crime" stories as they have come to be structured in the west - that sort of A&E crimesploitation shlock which panders to the sensational, sentimental, and prurient. In contrast, I loved the deliberate and respectful approach the filmmakers took on The Killing of a Journalist, and was impressed by the sheer amount of footage they sourced, also including surveillance videos (key to the investigation and seeming pretty moral, when in the right hands; wonder what Todd Serious would have said about it...?). There is some material that tugs at the heartstrings (including the detail that Kuciak's fiance was looking at wedding dresses on her laptop when the shooter knocked on their door; Jan's parents elsewhere in the film say that they had planned the wedding for May 5th, and instead had a funeral). There are also a few crime scene photographs - pools of blood on roped off areas of floor, that sort of thing - that may upset the particularly squeamish. But I really was gripped, even inspired, by the film - journalists matter! - and though it sounds like there is still no real verdict on the fate of Slovakian liberal democracy, I am. at the least, very pleased to now have a cinematic association with Slovakia that doesn't involve Eli Roth.  

(I truly do love the first two Hostel movies, btw - no jab at Roth intended - but I gather Slovakians have, uh, mixed feelings about them, for some reason [note further that they were apparently not even shot in Slovakia, even though they were set there]). 

More information on The Killing of Journalist on the VIFF website