Boy on a Bike

Narrative

Boy on a Bike is about the relationship between a boy and his bicycle. The story follows Henry throughout his life—interweaving the various companions along the way, the most im- portant of which being his bicycle. The story shows the three women in Henry’s life: his mother, his wife, and his daughter. Told from sunrise to sunset, in one day. There’s no dia- logue, only the sounds of Led Zeppelin to accompany the images. This is not a story about a bike; this is a film about a man’s life and his relationship with his bicycle to guide him along. It’s about living life behind handlebars.

There is a certain romance with a bicycle. It's hard to form into words the freedom one finds on a bike; it’s an emancipation from our everyday life—a refreshing break to an otherwise repetitive world. I often find myself saying it’s the simplicity of a bicycle—you and a machine—that makes it feel so primordial, so, for lack of a better word, fun. A bicycle is a vehicle of the physical, taking people to incredible places and areas otherwise unknown to the casual foot-walker. Most importantly, a bicycle is a vehicle into the sublime. The isolation and consistent repetition of motion provide us with one simple thing: time. Time to think, time to slowdown, and time to breathe. My goal is to capture the youth, beauty, and innocence of riding a bike: as we watch a boy become an old man, and how is bicycle is always there with him. A bicycle is the greatest manifestation of nostalgia; it can make anyone feel like a kid again, hence the title of the piece, Boy on a Bike.