CANNES, France (AP) — One of the breakouts at the Cannes Film Festival is a comedy about a male friendship that developed over many years and hundreds of miles on their bikes.

Michael Angelo Covino’s “The Climb” has been one of the most acclaimed American films in Cannes, even though it’s just Covino’s first feature. With fluid long takes, it captures comic moments in a lifelong friendship.

It begins with a bike ride in France in which one rider, mid-hill, tells the other that he’s slept with his fiancee.

Covino and his co-star Kyle Marvin shot their opening scene in France just a 30-minute drive north of Cannes. Days before premiering “The Climb,” they biked the hill again.

“The Climb” is playing in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard competition.