‘Low Rider’ review: LGBTQ+ drama follows a young British woman on a South African roadtrip

Dir: Campbell X. UK, South Africa. 2025. 94mins.

After her mom’s demise, Quinn (Emma McDonald) finds a field of keepsakes in a cabinet, together with correspondence from her long-absent father. It acts because the set off for a search that can take her from London to South Africa however which, in step with the acquainted terrain of movie highway journeys, may even see her embark on an emotional expedition by her personal expectations and wishes.

Extra sentimental than satisfying

Campbell X’s second function after 2012’s Stud Life tackles problems with prejudice – alongside each race and gender strains – and has a possible lesbian romance at its coronary heart. The latter is the drama’s loveliest aspect, holding a sensual and honest attraction within the face of an uneven and sometimes cluttered narrative. The give attention to Black and lesbian characters ought to assist Low Rider (the primary movie from UK producer Boudica Leisure) catch the attention of LGBTQ+ festivals following its world premiere in competitors at Edinburgh Worldwide Movie Pageant. Additional alongside the road, it has the potential for specialist or streamer distribution.

Quinn is shortly established because the form of femme who wouldn’t be seen lifeless with out her lippy on – make-up designer Julene Paton and costume designer Mercedes De Bruyn put in sterling work. She can be impetuous, embarking on a drunken one-night stand inside hours of touchdown in Cape City that permits Campbell X to showcase a deft contact with each bar and intercourse scenes, shot glossily by Robert Wilson.

The liaison, nonetheless, ends in Quinn shedding her cellphone and purse, and she or he begs her ex again dwelling (Nellie Modimola) to wire over some money. One factor Quinn nonetheless has left within the purse is a card handed to her by Harley (Thishiwe Ziqubu), a lady she rejected the evening earlier than, who additionally supplied to be her information. This is only one of a number of all-too-handy coincidences the filmmaker and co-writer Stephen Strachan use to drive the narrative.

The extra masculine-presenting Harley has an curiosity in Quinn that goes past serving to her to get to Hopetown within the coronary heart of the nation, the place Quinn’s father is reported to reside. Flirtation is to the fore because the pair set off in Harley’s pick-up truck, till a fender bender suggests hazard isn’t distant and that Harley’s possession of the motor won’t be totally legit.

Racism just isn’t unlikely in any atmosphere, however the sheer variety of unlucky and more and more inconceivable circumstances skilled by the pair start to take their toll on the believability of the narrative. Worse nonetheless, they show a distraction from the central relationship that, when it’s given room to breathe, is sweetly realised and effectively articulated by McDonald and, specifically, Ziqubu, who brings a broken soulfulness to Harley that goes past the constraints of the script.

Provided that Low Rider carries a central message to keep away from stereotyping or labelling individuals based mostly on preconceptions and prejudice, it’s a disgrace the movie is so one-note in its depiction of white South Africans as belligerent and racist – together with a cameo from veteran Brümilda van Rensburg as a lady from Quinn’s dad’s previous. Within the remaining act, a pointy left flip into trippy territory additionally proves jarring as a result of there’s little construct up, whereas the dearth of time taken to determine characters – an issue all through – additionally dangers exoticising Black South Africans. Usually talking, the movie’s feelings additionally arrive on demand slightly than being developed regularly, which makes its conclusion, whereas little doubt heartfelt, really feel extra sentimental than satisfying.