Canon Movie Review: 2:37

I just finished watching the Australian movie 2:37. Coincidentally, I was watching 2:37 at 2:37. 2:37 is a film made in 2006 and was shown at both the 2006 Cannes Film Festival and the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival. The movie was directed by Murali K. Thalluri, who was 22 when the film was released, and stars Teresa Palmer, Sam Harris, Frank Sweet, and Marni Spillane. No, I haven't heard of them either, but that's all right. A few thoughts about the movie, and yes, there are going to be some spoilers:

- The film starts off with a teacher and a janitor discovering that some one in a high school has committed suicide at 2:37 p.m., hence the title, but we don't know who. From there, the movie follows six kids during what seems to a typical day at high school, but things aren't what they seem, and the events of 2:37 pm will change their lives forever.

- The movie follows six students, Marcus, an academic overachiever who is pressured heavily by his father to be successful; Melody, Marcus's sister who has a deep and disturbing secret, Sean, an anti-authority type who does drugs and has come out of the closet, Luke, your typical jock who seems to be confused about his own sexuality, Kelly, a girl who seems to have a thing for Marcus, Sarah, Luke's girlfriend who is insecure about her looks and seems totally devoted to Luke, and 'uneven' Steven, who walks with a limp due to having one leg shorter than the other and who was born with two urrethras, which causes him to urinate uncontrollably. Since you know the ending, the movie takes on a "whodunit" feel as you try to sift through all the events and figure out just which person killed themselves.

- Thalluri uses a few interesting techniques in the film. One of which is the constant use of tracking shots, as the camera follows different characters as they walk through the hallways of the school. The shots are used to show the perspective of different events of the movie through different perspectives. Another technique the director uses is splicing in personal interview clips with the characters which show them expressing their personal thoughts. These interview clips are shot in black-and-white and gives the film a bit of a documentary feel, and also gives the audience more insight into the motives and personality of the characters.

- I must warn you, this movie is definitely not for the faint of heart. For one thing, the movie drew some criticism for it's graphic suicide scene at the end of the movie, and I can certainly see why. There's also one other scene that is rather disturbing as well, so be warned.

- Man, this is one depressing movie. From beginning to end, it's kind of hard to see a silver lining in the story, especially the last 20 minutes or so, which just depressed the heck out of me. The saga of Melody, in particular, really makes you feel bad, even if her storyline seemed a bit over the top.

-Thalluri wrote and directed this movie because a close friend of his had committed suicide, and this film was not only an outlet to deal with the pain of losing a friend, but also to serve as somewhat of a warning towards high school students. That's fine, but I fear that the message may not reach the right people due to the graphicness of the film turning some viewers away. But that's just my opinion.

Overall, the acting is very good, and all of the different camera and production techniques give the movie a unique feel. However, some of the characters weren't fleshed out enough (Sarah, for one, seemed to be a one-dimensional character, and that seemed to be more of a fault of the script than the actress). The ending is just heart-wrenching, though, and had quite an effect on me. Overall, I'll give 2:37 a 7.32 out of 10, as it was a good movie, even though some might find the subject matter and a few of the scenes unpleasant to match.

Well, thanks for reading, and if you have any thoughts on this or other posts, or ideas for future posts, than share them either by leaving a comment or by sending me an e-mail at KtheC2001@gmail.com