This is a sweet 7 minute short film by Chris McCoy & Adam Neustadter about the ups and downs of being a bicycle. It was created 2 years ago and has been selected for numbers international film festivals. The main character is The Bicycle who is personified by the voice of Matthew Waterson and even so often I find myself going back to watch this film because for me, it encapsulates the full range of lived experiences, thrills and spills. I find comfort in the idea that although we may own a bike of whatever the duration tis that we own it, who knows what stories, histories and situations our bicycles are involved in before or after they come into our lives.
I also love the idea that our loved and used bicycles move on to other owners and have new lives and incarnations that we never know about. I think the secret lives of bicycles could be fascinating idea to explore given the rich, unique and interesting stories it would bring up.
I like it also as, for me, this film speaks to the consumeristic nature of our society of buy, use, discard- which has always been challenging for me to engage with – especially in the case of bicycles – a social phenomena of which I have previous created an art bike and blogged about in the CONS_U_ME BLUES post.
This film will delight and touch any bicycle rider – enjoy the sentiments – and give your bike a little extra love!