A strong entry in immigrant stories premiered at the 77th Cannes Film Festival where it won awards, especially for its titular star. In fact, Abou Sangare won acting prizes at the César Awards, the European Film Awards and the Gotham Awards. This is a French film about a man from Guinea, a West African country, who is seeking asylum. The film received a limited theatrical release back in August and even played in select theaters, including the Cinema Art Theater in Lewes, Delaware. Looking back on 2025, it's obvious that the issue of immigration was a huge story in the news. Even though this film isn't set in the United States, it provides a window into the immigrant experience that one might not get in a lot of mainstream media.
Other than Jonathan Majors in Magazine Dreams (2025), Sangare's performance here is probably my favorite male performance of the past year. His acting prizes are all well deserved. Some may argue that he wasn't really acting, as Sangare's personal life mirrors his character's in a lot of ways. This is Sangare's debut. He hadn't acted in film before and he arguably is simply being himself here. Yet, there have been times when people who have been cast to essentially play themselves and their acting even as themselves have not been great. One recent example is Clint Eastwood's The 15:17 to Paris (2018).
Some might argue that Eastwood's direction was the reason for the performances not being as authentic or feeling as strong as one would expect. There are certain directors like Chloé Zhao and Sean Baker who are capable of bringing out compelling performances from real people, non-actors or first-time performers. Here, director Boris Lojkine seems to have that Zhao and Baker superpower, but even with great direction, it ultimately comes down to the actor and Sangare feels like the subject of a documentary that isn't in a documentary.
In a lot of ways, it feels like a spiritual sequel to an Oscar-nominated international feature, that of Matteo Garrone's Io Capitano (2024). That film was a harrowing tale of one young man who is desperate to keep going forward. It was a tense journey. Lojkine's film isn't a journey, at least not as an epic one, but he manages to capture a similar level of tension at times. It helps because Sangare's character is a delivery man who has to make food drops on a bicycle, and the film upholds a high energy and a propulsion, as the titular character navigates the crazy streets of Paris.
As much as this film's running time is about Sangare running around or biking around, the most hard-hitting moment is a quiet scene where Sangare is sitting down and being mostly stationary. Despite being highly energetic earlier, this stationary scene is very powerful. It results in an ending that is one of the best I've seen.
Not Rated but for ages 16 and up.
Running Time: 1 hr. and 33 mins.
Available on VOD.
