The Cyclist (2018)

Directed by: Kees Hin | 81 minutes | documentary

Rain or shine, heat or cold; for the cyclist it doesn’t matter. He touches the pedals in all weathers. He defies the surrounding traffic. Is he in charge of his own existence? Even to such an extent that the two-wheeler can be seen as an extension of the body. Where man goes, the bicycle goes. Always on the go. And always one with the world around him. Or, as the poet Vasalis quotes ‘The cyclist’, there is no past or present on a bicycle. The present, seemingly everlasting, is all that matters.

The Amsterdam cyclist is followed in the poetic documentary ‘The cyclist’, by filmmaker and artist Kees Hin. From the contemporary city cyclist to the sporty bicycle courier. And from the child who learns to ride a bicycle for the first time to the man who loses his best friend in a traffic accident.

The poetry lies not only in the image, but also in the accompanying voice-over, which gives the whole a pleasantly musing atmosphere. It brings to mind the work of teacher Bert Haanstra. The cyclists glide past the viewer. Occasionally they come closer to tell something about their experiences with the means of transport. And then continue on their way. The faithful two-wheeler under the seat. The spectator is left behind as an unsuspecting observer. The imaginary bench on which he sits, in the middle of the film’s set, never leaving. The voice-over as a devoted companion next to it.

Then it is a pity that many of those images are remarkably dark. The shooting days were apparently all cloudy. In the post-processing little seems to have been done. This gives ‘The cyclist’ something ominous, a feeling that does not fit with the content of the film. The narration is also quite monotonous. Not all scenes are equally strong.

Nevertheless, ‘The cyclist’ is a catchy ode to the two-wheeler and its rider. Sometimes somewhat far-fetched, but due to the role that the bicycle has in our lives, it is also just as obvious. Cycling is like breathing. The bicycle as life itself, from birth to death. Joy and sorrow. The cyclist also crosses peaks and valleys figuratively. Above all, this shows that the cyclist experiences an almost unlimited freedom. And lives.