Bicycle (the film)

[CanucksTraveller]

Sorry for any potential duplication, I searched but found nothing.

Has anyone watched this 2014 film on the birth and evolution of the bicycle in Britain? What were your thoughts?

I watched it tonight, having only found out about its existence through searching for clips of Boardman and Burrows and the 1992 Lotus. What a good 90 minutes. Some minor irritation at the insertion of some meaningless vignettes, but overall a great story telling weaving some good strands, and at times quite evocative. The final scene with the little girl leaping for joy at managing to ride without stabilizers had a tear in my eye. Possibly the best piece of cycle film making I've seen in the last decade.

http://bicyclethefilm.com

 

[robgul]

Is this the film that has a series of inserts about a girl from Birmingham that joins the BC set up .... and ends with clips of the producer's very young daughter cycling in a park?

Rob

 

[CanucksTraveller]

Yes that's it.

 

[mjr]

I've got it recorded from a recent Bike Channel showing, but not yet watched it.

 

[robgul]

Yes that's it.

Hmm - I'm surprised that you thought it that good - I saw it at the Electric in Brum - to me it was a mish-mash of stuff that in small bits was sort of interesting but didn't tell a coherent story. The girl at BC was a bit of a red herring - ditto the director's child in the park in Brum.

At the showing I went to the film-maker was there and the plan was to have a Q&A afterwards - I doubt that happened as pretty much the whole audience upped and left at the end (it's a tiny cinema, perhaps 40 seats?)

That said I've yet to see many, to me, good films about cycling. Perhaps the Mark Cavendish one was the best - can't remember what it was called but it was when he was at, I think, HTC with Mark Renshaw and Bernie Eis??

Rob

 

[mjr]

Chasing Legends.

 

[CanucksTraveller]

Hmm - I'm surprised that you thought it that good - I saw it at the Electric in Brum - to me it was a mish-mash of stuff that in small bits was sort of interesting but didn't tell a coherent story. The girl at BC was a bit of a red herring - ditto the director's child in the park in Brum.

I do get what you mean, and although I enjoyed it, I admit that it's far from perfect both as a story and a piece of film making - As I say, the little inserts (the disabled lad on the trike, the gardener on the cargo bike) were meaningless with the lack of context - But flawed as it is, I did still like it.

Although we're divergent on our overall view that seems to be a bit of a theme with opinions on this film, it looks to be a Marmite thing. I'm just glad to find that at least someone else has seen it, it still feels like this is possibly the least visited thread in weeks, and I'm guessing it's because it's a little seen film. Well it's either that, or people really don't have much to say about it.

 

[ufkacbln]