MentalPolyphonics

Veer explores America’s fast-growing bicycling culture by profiling five people whose lives are inextricably tied to bicycling and the bike-centric social groups they belong to. The film follows these characters over the course of a year, offering a behind-the-scenes look at their personal struggles and triumphs. Veer examines what it means to be part of a community, and how social movements are formed.

There are two movies here. The bleeding-heart documentary (which has nothing to do with “culture” or social groups):

• Steven Kung runs an organization that teaches bike workshops; there’s some theme of international touring that gets mentioned but never explained
• Gabe Graff teaches bike safety to kids: he is very earnest and never shown interacting with other adults
• Scott Bricker lobbies the state government (although I’m not sure how a non-Oregonian was supposed to figure this out) on pro-bike traffic laws

And the journalistic look at the narrative of Portland bike culture: The zoobombers form the core of Portland’s bike social circle. Around them is built a summer bike festival. Lauren Pederson and some zoobombers got together to form the women’s ironic dance troupe The Sprockettes, which is prominently featured in the summer bike festival. Gabe Tiller, king of the zoobombers, and his queen* do a bunch of stuff at the summer festival and are also key players at the alternative winter bike festival.

I think the two themes were mashed into one documentary because the community organizers are too boring and the enthusiasts are too vapid to stand alone. The editing is very tight, so the material may have simply not worked in any other structure. The camera-work and sound is also top-notch, and the pacing is relatively good.

* Vancouver-based activist Ifny Lachance – thanks Dan!