7. The Flying Scotsman
🚨All of the 'You Changed My Life, Coach!' posts contain major spoilers🚨
'The Flying Scotsman' is a 2006 film starring Johnny Lee Miller. Here's the Wikipedia page.
The film tells the true story of Graham Obree, an amateur cyclist who broke the world one hour distance record.
Also featuring are Billy Boyd from the Lord of the Rings, Brian Cox as a kind of unobtrusive life mentor character, and Steven Berkoff as the bad guy - bringing some of that 'Beverly Hills Cop' menacing energy to the world of international cycling regulation.
Johnny Lee Miller is really good in this. He's eccentric, inventive and driven but also likeable. It's an inspirational sports movie sure, but also a portrayal of Graham Obree's struggles with his mental health. The film is fairly small, but that's no bad thing. It's got some nice locations and the main characters are well realised. I thought there could have been a bit more from Graham Obree's wife played by Laura Fraser but that's a minor criticism. The film opens with an apparent suicide which is pretty arresting. When the narrative loops back around to show what happens the tone has changed a bit - there's something a bit off about the tone throughout in general. Not to say that films can't change their tone but I feel it doesn't quite settle in the right place - from a very dark start, when we've come back to that part in the story the overall feel that's been established is lighter without being comedic.
Johnny Lee Miller triumphing against various odds on a shoestring budget is engaging. There's a bit where he dismantles the family washing machine in order to get some ball bearings. I was sure that it was Chris Boardman's bike that had bits from a washing machine in it but I must have been misremembering my early 90s cycling history. Chris Boardman features in the film but he's not really the antagonist. When he briefly features he's just a nice and supportive bloke.
So because Chris Boardman is a nice and supportive bloke Johnny Lee Miller is really battling against his past, his bipolar disorder and depression, the international cycling regulators, and the odds.
Cycling isn't the most exciting sport in the world (in my opinion) but the film does well in its portrayal and the stakes and drama for the velodrome parts in particular are great. Generally speaking the film is just stuffed full of bikes. All kinds of cycling. Delivering parcels on a bike. Repairing bikes too. Brian Cox on a bike in Scotland in the rain. Exercise bikes. At one point Johnny Lee Miller even uses his bike as a weapon to see off some thugs, a bit like that two handed weapon the Klingons use, but with wheels.
In genre terms many of the elements you'd expect to see are there. International cycling regulators crushing Johnny Lee Miller's dreams because he is a maverick and they are conservative European dudes isn't the most dramatic thing to work with but I think they pull it off. And I liked that the film's mental health and life story parts where given just as much weight as the sport, and were well realised because of the quality actors.
Comments
Post a Comment