Directed by Alex Thompson
Written by Alex & Christopher Thompson
Filmmaker Alex Thompson had a successful 2024 with his third film Ghostlight, which is an odd thing to say because Rounding is his second film, but how can that be given that it’s just now coming out? Well Rounding played festivals way back in 2022, but given the success of Ghostlight (I have to imagine anyway), Rounding finally found distribution, with the hopes of bringing attention to more of Thompson’s work while also striking while the iron is hot, so to speak. Regardless of the circumstances surrounding Rounding‘s release, it will always be a good thing when young, up and coming filmmakers get a greater chance to share their work to the masses.
Dr. James Hayman (Namir Smallwood) is a driven medical resident who experiences a nervous breakdown after an unfortunate even with a patient. Looking to start anew somewhere else, James takes a residency in a more rural setting, taken under the wing of Dr. Harrison (Michael Potts). Clearly one of the bright medical minds at the hospital, Hayman becomes obsessive about his work, specifically with an asthma patient (Sidney Flanagan), whom James believes there might be something more going on since she continued to be admitted for asthmatic events time and time again with no obvious solution. But his obsession with fixing the problem in front of him, and the one he left behind, start to eat away at his soul and sanity.
One of the things I noticed immediately while watching Rounding was Thompson’s approach to mood and atmosphere. He appears completely in control of the type of movie he wants to make, and how he wants the audience to feel throughout. He crafts the mood with this dark and somewhat dingy cinematography. Hospitals are never that dark, but the bright, florescent light of real life hospitals just would not serve this story and the psychological deterioration of Dr. James. This coupled with Namir Smallwood’s understated and moody performance really give the whole picture a sense of dread and impending doom that, while the stakes of the film feel relatively low, really up the tension and pique the interest in such a small story.
Some of the supernatural horror elements of the film didn’t entirely work for me, but then again they rarely do. The genre is not my favorite necessarily, but I am able to admit that and recognize others may connect to and enjoy it more than myself. It amps up the psychological aspect of James’ angst and struggle by personifying it. It takes a special imagination to write these elements, and yet another to execute on them effectively. They are subtle enough here to disorient the viewer in just the right ways, as James wakes up here and there after certain episodes, unknowing how he got there, or how long he was unaware. It’s the type of disorientation that really places the viewer in James’ mental hell.
Admittedly, I have not seen Alex Thompson’s other two films, Saint Frances and Ghostlight, but after seeing what he is able to accomplish with a small film, a small story, and a small budget with Rounding, I will definitely need to go back and seek out his other work, while very much looking forward to what he is able to do with his next film, with perhaps a larger scope and budget. Rounding is not a perfect film either, but I can appreciate a promising filmmaker when I see one. He has the tools and the vision to put it all together into a great picture, and I can’t wait to see that, or at least enjoy the journey to get there if it means more interesting, entertaining, and well crafted films like Rounding.
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