Seven Days: Vermont's Independent Voice

Wheel to Reel

Hollywood films love to celebrate the open road — experienced at 70 mph and up. For a more leisurely ride, try Euro cinema. In conjunction with Montpelier’s SculptCycle project, the Savoy Theater presents a weekend series of free flicks celebrating the bicycle, running through August 24. This week, Vittorio De Sica’s 1948 classic The Bicycle Thief reminds viewers of a time when a family’s livelihood could depend on two wheels. The postman of Jacques Tati’s 1949 Jour de Fête earns his bread with his bike, too, but that doesn’t mean he can’t play with it, in slapstick sequences that go way beyond wheelies. French animation The Triplets of Belleville (coming up on August 23) finds surreal comedy in the lean-and-mean physiques of competitive cyclists — with a mocking side-glance at American car culture.