‘Rodeo’ Review: Striking Newcomer Julie Ledru Kickstarts A Thrilling, But Sometimes Too-Conventional Debut [Cannes]
It’s hard not to sound like a cynical, world-weary film critic when complaining about seemingly small things such as the way many independent French dramas these days open with a sequence showing people fighting and shouting at each other. But the technique of stunning the audience and capturing their attention with a loud, conflictual scene is becoming a tired trope that, if filmmakers aren’t careful, can seem more like a superficial shortcut to gritty realism than anything truly rooted in the characters’ reality.