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‘The Story of Souleymane’ Review: A Superb Lead Electrifies a Propulsive, Compassionate Immigration Drama

First-time actor Abou Sangare is a revelation in Boris Lojkine's "The Story of Souleymane," an undocumented Guinean delivery biker in Paris.

“Souleymane of Paris!” his friends call out as he whizzes past them on the street, like he’s an aristocrat touring his lands on two wheels, rather than an undocumented gig worker keeping a largely dismissive Parisian middle class in pad thai and pizzas. Lojkine’s taut, honed screenplay, co-written by Delphine Agut (“Inshallah a Boy”), coupled with Tristan Galand’s unobtrusively elegant yet dynamic camerawork and the pacy energy of Xavier Sirven’s editing, make the film a far smoother, better oiled vehicle than Souleymane’s scraping bike. Initially embodying a rangy, street-level physicality, Sangare is magnetic, but as Souleymane’s psychology is more deeply explored, there appears to be no limit to how much soul and sensitivity the actor can bring to a character who could easily have ended up a thin collection of “good immigrant” tropes.

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