[Tribeca 2024] BIKECHESS -- Potent Political Activism Alone Cannot Carry a Film

Review by Sean Boelman

Assel Aushakimova’s Bikechess has the makings of a sardonic satire that could spotlight a part of the world that doesn’t often get a platform in cinema. Unfortunately, despite the novelty of its perspective and the urgency of its message, Bikechess fails to connect as a satire, boring the audience rather than provoking their thought.

The film follows a Kazakh broadcast journalist working for a state-owned television station who is becoming increasingly disillusioned with the belittling puff pieces she is being asked to report on. At the same time, she juggles drama in her personal life, including her younger sister’s constant brushes with the authorities and an affair with her married cameraman. 

Aushakimova deserves a lot of respect for her bravery as a filmmaker. Making any movie about censorship, freedom of speech, and propaganda in a country like Kazakhstan, where opposing viewpoints are often prosecuted, is a feat in and of itself. When you add that Aushakimova’s satirical commentary is so unabashed, Bikechess is at least impressive as a work of political activism.

Unfortunately, the film is only impressive on that level. It is meant to be incredibly satirical, but its humor isn’t all that funny. It pokes fun at the absurdity of state-run propaganda in occasionally amusing ways, but this satire peaks early. The opening scene, which gives the movie its name, hits the ground running but cannot maintain this narrative momentum through the rest of the runtime.

One of Bikechess’s other prominent issues is that its characters feel underdeveloped. When the protagonist of a film is arguably the least interesting character, it’s a problem. Although Aushakimova is obviously most interested in the journalistic themes, the more intriguing storyline is that of the protagonist’s activist sister. After all, what would the journalism story matter if the journalist didn’t have something incendiary and urgent to cover?

Saltanat Nauruz’s performance in the lead role is solid for the dramatic portions of the movie, but she struggles with the comedic elements. The film's sense of humor is incredibly dry, and Nauruz almost feels too sincere for this aspect to work. The rest of the cast doesn’t make much of an impression in one direction or the other.

Visually, Bikechess is almost disgustingly grey-looking. Although you can cut it a bit of slack because it’s obviously made on a very small budget, it’s in a weird grey area where it’s a bit too rough around the edges but also slightly too refined to work in a guerilla-esque sense. As a result, Bikechess looks (and feels) cheap but doesn't have the scrappy quality necessary to pull this aesthetic off.

It would be impossible to watch Bikechess and not at least acknowledge the bravery that Assel Aushakimova has shown in creating such a damning condemnation of censorship and propaganda. However, one will wish that Aushakimova had crafted a more engaging film. It needed to be more exciting, funnier, or perhaps even just more focused. But in its current state, viewers will leave Bikechess feeling more disappointed about what it wasn’t than anything else.

Bikechess screened at the 2024 Tribeca Festival, which runs June 5-16 in New York City.

Rating: 2/5