Roundabout
2024 · 18m · United Kingdom
Directed by Patrick Sheard
Genres: comedy, drama, romance
Tones: contemplative, melancholic, tender
David and Stella wake up together after a heavy night out, awkward and uncomfortable; as they part ways, their lives intertwine through connections and friendships with others until they are linked again at a film premiere that looks rather familiar.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
The recursive premise—waking up awkward, then watching your own story loop back at a premiere—should be clever-clever, but Sheard commits to the melancholy underneath instead of winking at the gimmick, which is either restraint or missed provocation depending on your tolerance for sincerity.
The film's architecture recalls the formal interlocking of ensemble narratives (Crash, Babel) but in miniature and with genuine tenderness; there's a lineage here of romantic comedy learning to sit with its own loneliness, executed with measured pacing and considered restraint.
The decision to keep the tone contemplative rather than arch—letting the awkwardness between David and Stella breathe across 18 minutes instead of resolving it—is what transforms a high-concept premise into something that actually *feels* like a morning after and an accidental mirror.
Reviews
Sheard displays the realities of adult relationships in its rawest form, and the narrative is captivating with clever intertwining of each character's story that connects with the audience on so many levels and is extremely relatable.