Budapestain

Further pursuing obscure film viewing amidst this despotic and horrific pandemic, can’t help but notice how truth takes a beating. Literary and litter seem to have same root, bits or memes strewn carelessly, stuff to which you can never lend your faith. Photographs were admissible in court until Photoshop began to falsify. Film or video evidence was beyond doubt until viewers learned about special effects. Few things are as completely genuine as a kiss on your lips or slap across your ass. Spinning along on a steed of steel will always be credibly real. Meaningful, small, unexpected references give 21st Century cinema inspirational appeal.

Beginning with The Year of The Bike, 2009, and proceeding by date of release, in television program Law & Order Criminal Intent, “Legion”, Season 2, Episode 18, major case detectives Eames & Goren (Kathryn Erbe & Vincent D’Onofrio) expose a cult where adolescents must steal bicycles or wind up dead under an authoritarian ring leader.

Documentary called A Murder of Couriers (Neil Brill, Tom MacLeod, dirs., 2012) chronicles culture and lives of Vancouver bicycle messengers. Not to be confused with 1998 crime thriller called A Murder of Crows, title comes from a 15th Century term of venery, developed by witty hunters, to which ornithologists object, who call any group of birds a “flock”. Deadsoul Tribe’s like named album coincidently features a track, The Messenger. Coincidence echoes pestilence while surrounded by sickness born from premeditated malice and sociopathic avarice.

White God (Kornél Mondruczó, dir., 2014) has preteen protagonist Zsófia Psotta discovering how music soothes the savage beast. When her mongrel pet is tossed aside because of an excessive tax on dogs that aren’t pure breeds, she defies family and looks relentlessly for her beloved Hagen, during which her own bicycle is stolen. Meanwhile, Hagen leads a canine revolt against blood sport organizers and petty animal controllers who’ve mistreated him. A hundred dogs escape pound and race through streets of Budapest terrorizing residents.

Zsófia borrows a bike to outrun them so she can go home, but gets knocked down, then plays Liszt on her trumpet to quell their wilding. This allegory about Nazi and Soviet occupation of Hungary won an award.

While We’re Young (Noah Baumbach, dir., 2015) explains why middle aged hipsters Ben Stiller and Naomi Watts befriend bicycling twentysomethings Adam Driver and Amanda Seyfried on their quest for authentic lifestyles. “Ride on the street, man!” screams Driver.

Stiller’s stride into cool cyclist gets tripped up when his bike less its front wheel is stolen. Driver disappoints cyclist Stiller, naturally, in a vignette of how privileged millennials mash up culture instead of invent their own. A generation ago horizons were devoid of textural complexity offered over today’s internet, much of it as phony as Wikipedia entries spawned by propagandists and publicists that researchers and xennials take as gospel. Nonfiction is now in question, truth on trial, for every documentarian. Intimacy and spontaneity can only survive when you feel alive.

The Sweet Life (Rob Spera, dir., 2016) tells how bicycling ice cream vendor Chris Messina meets likewise despondent Abigail Spencer. They make a suicide pact to cross America and throw themselves off the Golden Gate Bridge. After several awkward adventures including boosting cars and robbing convenience stores, he steals a bike to rush and save her.

Life can be sweet if you have someone with whom to share your journey.

Last time guardian Alison (Dianna Agron) sees her teenage brother Darryl (Shawn Ashmore), he’s taking off with his BMX bike and friends to hang and party. She spends rest of Hollow in the Land (Scooter Corkle, dir., 2017) looking for him, as does town’s vindictive police chief (Michael Rogers) who holds them both responsible for their dad’s traffic accident, which killed his son who was riding on a bicycle.

Brazilian drama Arábia (João Dumans, dir., 2017) opens with teen protagonist riding his bicycle alongside a valley vista, only to discover diary of an itinerant worker whose life was even harder than his.

Mail Order Monster (Paulina Lagudi Ulrich dir., 2018) spins an awkward yarn of a gifted and resourceful teen (Madison Horcher) with family and friend issues, shown bicycling away from high school bullies and intended harm. She orders an overprotective robot from a comic book ad. Mayhem ensues, but scenario ends well for Sam and her stepmom.

Amidst factory lofts Evalena Marie awaits entry into the secluded world of pharmacologist Joey Klein in Painless (Jordan Horowitz, dir., 2018). Klein portrays a person with rare congenital disorder CIP, insensitive to pain, thus often repeatedly suffers inadvertent injuries. When you are unlike others, you choose between letting your desire to conform destroy you, or maximizing whatever skills you have to play hand you’re dealt. Other directions sit on your doorstep, if you make a choice and take a chance.

Hope may not be rational, but not one life is futile. For the first time in its 50 year history Earth Day 2020 sees planet recovering from mankind’s influence. Woodstock Nation, who instigated this annual commemoration, responded to threats of pollution and waste, none of which have been abated to date or addressed in haste. Reports from everywhere describe a resurgence in bicycling as a way to be green, maintain personal distance, move about cleanly and effectively, and stay healthy. Who knew?