2:37 (1 Viewer)

[kyle.sawyer]

Hey.

This movie came out in cinemas last night, and it has already been the cause of great controversy in the film and mental health world. It deals with the confronting topic of teenage suicide and shows a detailed scene of a characters suicide, which is obviously the cause of the controversy.

As a result of this, it has been given a R18 rating, much to the dismay of the young Australian director, Murali K. Thalluri. He says that he wanted his message of the futility of suicide to be broadcasted to young people of 15 and up.

From all reports, it is a great film. After all, it did recieve a 17 minute applaude at it's premiere at the Cannes Film Festival.

What are your thoughts? Have you seen it? Check out the official website, http://www.twothirty7.com/, and tell us what you think.

 

[melimoo]

scheduled to see it next week!!
am really excited for it actually

 

[mr_brightside]

seeing it sometime soon!

ive read some scenes involve some graphic SI stuff. so noone freakout

 

[Lori.]

I saw it today, it is absolutely excellent!
It practically follows a bunch of kids who have these intertwining, 'normal' teen problems. At the beginning of the movie, you find out that someone killed themselves and the rest of the movie is like a flashback of the events that occured before, and you have to guess who it was who died. Very suspenseful and twisting. And controversial, of course.

It is very art-house, so don't expect to get entertainment form your normal intro-climax-conclusion, but rather enjoy the ride, because every second of this film is gold!

 

[Not-That-Bright]

For some reason even the synopsis of this film gives me a bit of a chill Probably should go see it.

 

[icecreamdisco]

i'll probably see it, but i just can't get over how derivative of elephant it looks from the clips i've seen. i mean, it looks like they've basically used a few computer effects to transfer it to an aussie high school. ridiculous.

 

[Lori.]

I havent seen elephant :/ it would suck if it was just a rip-off, cause it was so good

 

[orange_blob]

i'll probably see it, but i just can't get over how derivative of elephant it looks from the clips i've seen. i mean, it looks like they've basically used a few computer effects to transfer it to an aussie high school. ridiculous.

That's a bit harsh to say before seeing it. But Thalluri does recognise the similarities:

yM: The style of the movie is similar to Gus Van Sant's "Elephant". Who are your main influences?

MT: Gus was a huge influence, but I think in comparing "2:37" to "Elephant" it's much like comparing "Brokeback Mountain" to a cowboy movie. It's similar in form, but the stories are completely different. My proudest moment was when Gus saw the film and called me up, and he said "Oh God, I loved your movie, it reminded me of 'Elephant' but it's got a story". "Elephant Man" is one of my favourite films ever; that's the first film I sat in my room alone and cried my heart out. I'd never cried in a movie before then. I love Scott Hicks, I think he's got a real hold on his craft. Rolf de Heer helped me a lot, I was friends with his daughter, so he made sure I was moving in the right direction. I'm obsessed with Michael Jackson. One of my goals in life is to do one of his film clips. And Woody Allen - my third film's going to be very Woody Allen-ish.

 

[Ellie-Bee]

I'm hoping to see this soon but wanted to ask those of you who have seen it - is it really disturbing? I'm someone who can handle disturbing in small doses but wanting to check out just how much of this is disturbing.....Thoughts??

(Yes, I may have broken the record for the amount of times 'disturbing' can be used in one paragraph!!)

 

[Lori.]

Theres only one bloody scene and you'll know when its coming up.

 

[Ellie-Bee]

Cheers. Hehe. I'm a big wuss.

Planning to see it on Tuesday

 

[crazyhomo]

i think this is probably the most derivative movie i've ever seen. it wasn't so much bad, as it was completely done before. stylistically it was exactly the same as the superior elephant, and narratively it used nearly every single troubled teenager cliche (the only one it didn't have was the student teacher relationship). and the 'twist' ending was completely stolen from the (also superior) rules of attraction, so i saw it coming from about 10 minutes in

 

[jooobl]

what the - elephant was boring lol

 

[GoodToGo]

i think this is probably the most derivative movie i've ever seen. it wasn't so much bad, as it was completely done before. stylistically it was exactly the same as the superior elephant, and narratively it used nearly every single troubled teenager cliche (the only one it didn't have was the student teacher relationship). and the 'twist' ending was completely stolen from the (also superior) rules of attraction, so i saw it coming from about 10 minutes in

I, and I think most people who've seen the 2 movies, would agree that 2:37 is the far superior film...but then, most people could be wrong.

It's interesting that no one in this thread (I'd say people 25 and under) has taken offence at the rape scene, yet most of the reviews (by older reviewers) have harked on about how the movie was ruined by the inclusion of said "horrifically" graphic scene and how a touch of subtlety should be utilised blah blah. Are younger people more desensitised than the older folks?...

 

[crazyhomo]

I, and I think most people who've seen the 2 movies, would agree that 2:37 is the far superior film...but then, most people could be wrong.[/I]

i might have agreed with this is 2:37 had been made 15 or 20 years ago, but since it wasn't, the movie was just completely unoriginal. every single issue it touched on has been portrayed in movies and tv before, and usually better

the characters in this film were just one dimensional card board cutouts of troubled teens, with no depth or shining a new light on any of the issues raised. i was able to predict every single 'twist' simply by thinking to myself 'what cliche hasn't this movie used yet?'. that is really not what i consider a good thing when watching a film

also, using the 'interview' technique to explain what the characters were thinking and feeling is a sign of lazy writing and directing. he wasn't able to express these things easily in the way the characters spoke and acted in a real situation, so had to rely on these interviews to explain the cliches

on the plus side, the film was pretty well made. it looked pretty, and the acting was ok considering what they had to work with. still, i would sum up 2:37 using just two words: derivative and obvious

 

[ur_inner_child]

That's a bit harsh to say before seeing it

I've seen both movies.

What irritated me the most out of 2:37 (which I think icecreamdisco was getting at) was that it was an Australian film, with Australian actors, but all of it portrayed American stereotypes, American schooling, American everything.

Spoiler

for example:
- typical american characters - jock, girly princess chick, muso nerd, etc
- hallway after hallway of lockers
- no uniform
- public showers
- the jock was playing soccer. Australia jocks tend to go for football!

The cliche students may not be an american thing but I certainly identified the jock etc as an american thing. I would've liked more sophistication, considering social heirachies among schools are so much more complex that one king sitting at the top. I only craved for this sophistication because I read in reviews that it delved deeply into teenage social interactions. I had high expectations....

I know thats not much but it was enough to make me feel awkward during the movie (I couldn't suspend disbelief!). Plus all of what I said above was adding to how much it echoed elephant... eg the way in which it followed the kids around and had simultaneous drama. I acknowledge the two movies aim to portay different things:

Spoiler

ie elephant emphasised the mundane or everyday happenings of the highschool making the climax of the whole movie so much more intense, whereas in 2:37 we follow the kids around so we could get to know them, and it was almost a whole "cluedo" feel. Not really, but you were sitting there trying to understand what and who affected who else etc.

I think that fact that its slight americanism and general cliches really affected the movie for me, which is why I sat there thinking it was all unoriginal.

But other than that, it was a satisfying movie to watch, ie it ended well. I enjoyed it nevertheless.

 

[Keen]

I went to see this last week, with friends who actually went to the school it was filmed in (in Adelaide) and they can vouch that they had to wear uniforms.

Anyway, the film I thought was very average. Other than being so similar to Elephant (a much more powerful film) and many newer art house films, it was really cliched. I think this kind of story has been done better so many times before. Even the Hamlet monologue "To be or not to be..." [actually read the whole thing!] is a much much better look at suicide than this film will ever be.

2.5/5


Keen

 

[Katie123]

I saw it on friday night and thought it was pretty good considering i never forsee outcomes in movies ie. i didnt see the dream link in Click!. I did know it would end in suicide but not the homosexual links.

I havent seen elephant so i have nothing to compare it to. Although i agree that it had a tinge of american style schooling it which really, when I was watching the movie didnt really bother me.

I also have to say that its a lot better than other Australian movies that i have seen lately like Candy and others which are primarily based on drug use

 

[Drunkass86]

When I saw this film I went into it with an open mind. I found this film really confronting and honest. As I myself have gone through depression/suicidial feelings in my life you could say I was asking for trouble by seeing this film. I felt a strong sense of empathy with the girl who committed suicide...and showing it in the way the film does forced me to relive events in my life that I felt were certainly over. It does indeed show the futility of suicide.

If you have ever wondered what suicide felt like, watch this, and you'll have the closest idea of the anguish and sadness felt by someone in this situation...

The film is a true Aussie classic as it depicts teen issues honestly and confrontingly

 

[mr_brightside]

I didnt think it was THAT good.
It just started to play with deep issues

WARNING:

Spoiler

She cuts herself lots and stabs and there's lots of blood and oh god hard to watch
Couldnt watch. cut cut cut....Do not spend night alone.

and the rape scene is not pleasant. bad. very bad.
I reckon a little more warning about that is needed