A trailer for Jeff Nichols’ “The Bikeriders” has been released, and it looks like an old-school greaser affair. Lots of booze. Lots of women. Lots of violence. A ton of chain-smoking.
Nichols is coming off what’s been the longest break of his filmmaking career — he hasn’t directed a film since 2016’s “Loving.” His past works include “Take Shelter,” “Mud,” and “Midnight Special.”
“The Bikeriders” is set in the 1960s following the rise of a fictional, midwestern motorcycle club. Seen through the lives of its members, the club evolves over the course of a decade from a gathering place for local outsiders into a full-out gang, threatening the original group’s unique way of life.
The cast is stacked, including the likes of Austin Butler, Jodie Comer, Tom Hardy, Michael Shannon, Boyd Holbrook, Norman Reedus and Mike Faist. Butler seems to be playing a James Dean type here, which fits his whole persona. Every actor sports a mid-western accent.
Nichols’ film screened at Telluride and the reviews were mixed-to-positive. A lot of mid notices from IndieWire, Awards Radar, The Playlist, EW and Variety. Nothing to write home about, but a new film from Nichols is always worth a look.
It’s said to be an old school affair reminescent of Coppola’s “The Outsiders. IndieWire critic David Ehrlich described the film as tackling the “golden age of motorcycles, giving way to the all-too-familiar entropy that ended it.”
“The Bikeriders” premieres in theaters December 1st. It’ll screen before that at the BFI London Film Festival in October.