The Bike Thief

It's a heck of a risk to base your first feature on an undisputed classic of world cinema, but writer/director Matt Chambers just about gets away with relocating Vittorio De Sica's Bicycle Thieves (1948) to gig economy London. Point-of-view shots and intimate close-ups pitch the audience into the hand-to-mouth existence of "The Rider" (God's Own Country star Alec Secareanu), who needs his moped to deliver pizzas, as well as ferry wife Elena (Anamaria Marinca) to her cleaning jobs and daughter Miri (Alexia Maria Proca) to school. Such are his circumstances that he stands to lose everything when the bike is stolen. But who is going to help a Romanian immigrant when they have their own backs to watch? In focusing so intensely on his taciturn antihero, Chambers neglects to sketch in the post-Brexit background that would make his predicament more politically provocative and emotionally trenchant. While the story and imagery are nowhere near as sophisticated as De Sica's original, the compelling performances still make this a ride worth taking.