Well what a crock of shite. Cos yeah, NYC messengers are all either religious nutjobs or crack-head crims who sleep in the subway. Dunno what sort of hackneyed point Sutherland is trying to make, but he definitely found some 'interesting' characters to interview for his movie. Unfortunately they were not, in my opinion good examples of couriers.
Jesus christ, why is the BFF airing this? Surely there are some articulate and thoughtful messengers in NYC? Surely some people make a life choice to become riders over there? They seemed to concentrate on the sort of people who would be thieving and mugging if they weren't riding. Perhaps because of European regulations, the welfare state and the minimum wage we just geniuinely get a 'better class' of rider here (London, Zurich, Berlin etc).
Or perhaps the real professionals - there must be some in NYC - declined to take part in this crappy half-arsed popularist snapshot work. Hopefully the documentary about the London scene later in the week will be a bit better. And bloody hell, it went on for ages.
Yeh, but to non couriers ... who's gonna be more interesting? Frankly they just went with the stereotype of a messenger (crackhead, homeless, nut job etc etc) and made a film out of it.
That guy who spoke about the couriers who had a home to keep & kids to feed was kinda interesting, but it’s a shame that Sutherland never went down that route. Yes there are the nutters and the extreme faction of any sub-culture, but I personally find the more normal stories more fascinating. The processes of the filming really made me laugh thou. The Dude did most of his filming on a skateboard!
Ps. If you were @ the film festival on a Friday night you would have saw a short film by Sutherland. A fest only film about him and his brother’s first bike ride without training wheels, recorded by his father with the intro to “Sweet Child of Mine” as the sound track. Fucking awesome and better then the main film of the night B.I.K.E (Which was SHIT by the way)
It's funny reading these comments now after I watched Pedal a couple of times recently.The OP has not had the benefit of hindsight and did not see the point of the film.It wasn't just about NYC couriers,it was about peoples lives,their human stories.Ok,there are some points in the film that are gratuitous,NYC couriers will always come across as being arrogant,and I thought the camera work on the skateboard was a great way of stabilsing the frame.I found Evil E's life story and situation moving,the guy has had a troubled life and was articulate and thoughtful,check out Red Light Go,he's in that too.Pedal,for me it is a document of the courier lifestyle and as we all know the job attracts so many different people in so many different cities that it would be impossible to include every aspect of it.
1. "Articulate and Thoughtful".... Are you a homosexual or what? 2. "Make a life choice to become riders".... What planet do you live on? 3. "European regulations, welfare state and the minimum wage"... None of which apply to Cycle Couriers.
To try and tell ourselves that the majority of London riders are "articulate and thoughtful" people who have made a "life choice" to be a cycle courier would be a gross misrepresentation and I don't see the point in it, much less putting it in a documentary
...I mean this is seriously mental masturbation here mate. You really need to stop kidding yourself.
I've known couriers who lost their jobs for smoking crack in the bathrooms of offices, another who got fired for picking up some sunglasses that didn't belong to him. Shit I saw one guy riding round with a fuckin dog chained to his seatpost.
So let not try and paint some bullshit picture about what couriers are really about. Open your eyes n stop fuckin pretending.
Yes, well. Seems he has gone out of his way to find the nuttiest, the no-hopers and the clearly deranged out there. I'm sure there are some sane messengers in NY but this piece of shit begs to differ.
"To try and tell ourselves that the majority of London riders are "articulate and thoughtful" people who have made a "life choice" to be a cycle courier"
So you finaly admit that you are one of us. Of course earning a pittance as you do, supposedly working for glh, you must feel bitter. However, if you detest us so much why not go and make a living as a bog brush or whatever other skill you may posess.