Seksdagesløbet

A simple story about a family break up..... but that is totally secondary in interest to the view of 50's Copenhagen culture at the "six day race" If you do not have any knowledge of indoor cycle racing the film would be meaningless. It presents a story revolving around a little boy deposited in the centre of an international bike race by his father; who is one of the stars. His mother also present and her lover; also one of the (new) stars of the bike race. These are the characters at the core. Sounds impossible but somehow it seems to work! Mixing in rivalries and jealousies on the track and the defeat of the elder statesman.

The vignettes of the crowd are effective if a little clumsy, the audience scenes shine, being genuine!

Most elements worked well for me - I loved the authentic footage of the race and the arena, I was invested in the main storylines and most of the humour was successful.

However, these separate elements did not always blend well. The large amount of real footage left little room for the fictional story to develop, and the humour disrupted the drama, with the most emotional monologue literally interrupted over and over again by comedian Kjeld Petersen's drunken character. His is a good example of the overabundance of minor characters with little significance. Their scenes were often unwelcome distractions from the storylines of the main characters.

Still, I enjoyed the film. I may well be biased as a Dane and a cycling fan, but I did think the screenplay and the (at times surprisingly experimental) direction delivered powerful moments over the course of the film.