Filmland, an annual celebration of filmmaking from Arkansas and beyond, has played an important part in the Arkansas Cinema Society’s work to grow and nurture a passionate local film culture. Throughout its seven years, one of the anchors of Filmland has been director, screenwriter, and ACS co-founderJeff Nichols. An Arkansas native, Nichols’ investment in growing his home state’s film community has been invaluable.

As a filmmaker, Nichols has several notable signatures that give his movies their particular appeal. His stories tend to have a distinctly southern flavor and shrewdly represent a region of the country he knows very well. He also has a knack for writing characters who feel incredibly organic to the worlds they exist in. These things are only enhanced by the fact that Nichols is a natural storyteller.

Among the highlights of last year’s Filmland was Nichols’ new movie “The Bikeriders”. It’s his first feature since 2016’s “Loving” and his biggest film in terms of budget and ambition. It’s inspired by photojournalist Danny Lyon’s 1968 book of the same name that explored the members and firsthand stories of the Chicago Outlaws Motorcycle Club. The book featured a collection of Lyon’s photography and interviews captured during his time as a member of the Outlaws in the mid sixties.

Much like Lyon’s book, Nichols sets out to deconstruct the somewhat romanticized view of this 1960s motorcycle subculture. At the same time he doesn’t shy away from the nostalgic allure of the time. Instead he embraces it, creating a near longing for a bygone era while also viewing it as something best left to a very specific period in American history. His film is an incredible balance of gritty realism and heartfelt sentimentality.

Merely inspired by Lyon’s work, Nichols takes several ideas from the book and then builds his own fictional story. He frames it through a series of interviews that Danny Lyon (played by Mike Faist) conducts with a woman named Kathy (a sublime Jodie Comer). Through three meetings spanning nearly a decade, Kathy talks about her time with the Vandals, a Chicago based motorcycle club that rode to prominence during the 1960s.

The meat of the story follows the club’s rise from a close-knit brotherhood to a vast mob-like menace. Over the course of the movie, what starts as a small pack of local outcasts emulating Marlon Brando’s “The Wild Ones” morphs into a violent network of riders from different cities across the country. It’s a fascinating evolution that in many ways is shaped by the shifting social and political landscapes of the time.

At the very heart of “The Bikeriders” is a captivating trio of characters whose interconnected relationships humanize the story and shape the drama. Tom Hardy is a force of nature playing Johnny, the founder and leader of the Vandals. There’s no doubting Johnny is in charge, but he’s well respected by the members. His idea is that one day his kid brother Benny (Austin Butler) will take his place. The problem is Benny is a wild card – loyal but volatile. Butler is magnetic, embodying a smoldering bad boy image that you can’t turn away from.

And then there’s Kathy who finds herself stuck within this testosterone driven coterie. She sees the Vandals for what they are and often pushes back against their macho codes and rituals. Yet there’s a part of her that’s fascinated and drawn to their world – at least early on. She’s especially enchanted with Benny who she meets in a bar and then marries five weeks later.

Benny’s bond with his brother is every bit as strong as his bond with Kathy which inevitably leads to tension between all three. It’s only amplified in the second half as the club starts to grow and the once intimate camaraderie starts to crumble. It’s here that the story takes a darker turn, becoming a “Goodfellas” type of mob drama but with a biker movie bend. The violence ratchets up and the romanticism of the early scenes all but vanishes.

While the three central performances shine brightest, Nichols amasses a superb supporting cast who play an assortment of colorful characters, many based on actual photos from Lyon’s book. There’s Michael Shannon as Zipco, Boyd Holbrook as Cal, Norman Reedus as Funny Sonny, Damon Harriman as Brucie, and Emory Cohen as Cockroach, just to name a few. They fill out the world well (though some disappear for stretches), but it’s Nichols’ interest in their psychologies that make them so individually compelling.

While it’s technically more Midwestern than Southern, there are still several wonderful similarities between “The Bikeriders” and other stories Jeff Nichols has told. The big difference here is that Nichols has opened a window to a notoriously private world. His presentation is strikingly authentic, highlighted by incredible sound, cinematography, costume design, and a cracking 60’s flavored soundtrack. It all helps to create a transporting experience – one that lures you in with its infectious cool before hitting you hard with the grim and violent reality. “The Bikeriders” opens in theaters June 21st.

VERDICT – 4.5 STARS