Roundabout (2003) User Reviews

Brilliant commentary on the impact of today's social conditions

[sunlucky · 9/10 · 22 February 2003]

This short movie about a regular middle aged business man with a wife, two young children and a stressful work environment, comments on the busy lives many of us are experiencing in the 21st Century - and explores the possible consequences of such an existence. It tackles the concept of mental illness/anxiety/depression in a sensitive but confronting manner. This man leaves home one morning after spending some superficial time with his kids and wife. On the way he is involved in an accident, after which he experiences an overwhelming panic attack. The audience is exposed to his experiences as the world rushes by... A realistic account of the psychological fragility of "normal" humans... A reminder to reflect on what is important to us in this busy, high pressured world in which we live!! [As a Psychologist, I am hoping to obtain a copy to use as an educational/normalising tool]. Brilliant!

An idea, rather than a film

[alanjj · 4/10 · 2 December 2003]

This is more like an idea for a film than a film. A "roundabout" is what we in America call a traffic circle. A man is frustrated with life, has conflicts at work, gets into traffic, is late for a meeting, hits and kills a dog, gets blood on his clothes, and winds up going around and around the roundabout until the car runs out of gas. By that time, the police and his wife are there to rescue him from his stupor and his car.

The short film looks like a million Aussie bucks. The New South Wales Government is apparently willing to finance the directorial ambitions of one of its princesses. But the movie seems like an exercise in film-making, rather than a real film. Rachel Griffith's earlier film, Tulip, packs an emotional wallop. This one is just annoying.