The Bike Thief review – a clear-eyed, unsentimental study of immigrant life
A modern update on Vittorio De Sica’s neorealist classic Bicycle Thieves, Matt Chambers’ feature debut pays the same attention and care to the day-to-day struggles of the urban working class. The refusal to either romanticise or overly dramatise it makes for especially poignant results and the clear-eyed, unsentimental approach renders the characters’ turmoil even more tragic.
The film draws viewers in with a kind of urban poetry. The camera closely follows a pizza delivery man on his scooter as he zips through traffic, his figure wrapped in the hues of city lights. The halogen flares, however, quickly turn unforgiving, just like the inhospitable environment engulfing this precarious line of work. Initially seen only as a helmet-coveredface in the crowd, the figure emerges as the deliberately unnamed protagonist, credited only as the Rider (played by God’s Own Country’s Alec Secăreanu).
The character’s namelessness places him in a generalised working class, but the film also fleshes out the specifics of Romanian immigrant life in London, beautifully imbued with a wealth of visual details. The vastness of the big city contrasts with the cramped apartment that he shares with his wife Elena (Anamaria Marinca), their teenage daughter and perpetually wailing baby. Though a testament to financial hardship, this space also glows with a familial tenderness that is a refuge from the daily hustle and bustle. However, all of this threatens to fall apart when his scooter is stolen, prompting the mildmannered Rider to embark on a dark path.
Secăreanu is just as intensely memorable here as in God’s Own Country, displaying a deliberate restraint that is even more haunting when it finally cracks. Considering Marinca was such an engaging presence in the Romanian new wave classic 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, it is a pity that her character isn’t given more to do; perhaps it’s best read as a commentary on the even tougher existence endured by female immigrants. As a result, The Bike Thief is significantly weaker than it might have been, though as a character study it’s still compelling.
• The Bike Thief is released on 3 May on digital platforms.