CANNES -- Blood seeps from beneath a locked door at a comfortable suburban Australian high school and the question of what happened and who is inside is answered in flashbacks in Murali K. Thalluri's gripping "2:37".
The focus is on seven youngsters of various types from the hunky jock with his pretty but needy girlfriend, a brother and sister whose lives are made tense by an overbearing father, a gay dope-smoker, a kid with a bladder problem, and a sweet-faced people pleaser.
Their stories are revealed in well-staged scenes interspersed with one-off interviews as each student tells about life in school from his or her perspective. The sense that one of them has committed suicide grows through the film as each one's problems are revealed. Thalluri was 20 years old when he made the picture and being not long out of high school has perhaps helped him craft such an absorbing drama.
The stories of each of the youngsters lean towards the melodramatic and the notion that everyone in the school has a story like theirs is pretty scary. But the young actors are believable -- Teressa Palmer and Frank Sweet as the tense siblings; Sam Harris as the athlete and Marni Spilane as his girlfriend; Joel Mackenzie as the picked-upon gay; Charles Baird as the patient boy with a faulty urethra; and Clementine Mellor as a girl who's always willing to help others.
The buzz of school life can easily obscure alienation and loneliness,
the film observes, and if its depiction is a little too pat, it's nonetheless worthwhile.
The focus is on seven youngsters of various types from the hunky jock with his pretty but needy girlfriend, a brother and sister whose lives are made tense by an overbearing father, a gay dope-smoker, a kid with a bladder problem, and a sweet-faced people pleaser.
Their stories are revealed in well-staged scenes interspersed with one-off interviews as each student tells about life in school from his or her perspective. The sense that one of them has committed suicide grows through the film as each one's problems are revealed. Thalluri was 20 years old when he made the picture and being not long out of high school has perhaps helped him craft such an absorbing drama.
The stories of each of the youngsters lean towards the melodramatic and the notion that everyone in the school has a story like theirs is pretty scary. But the young actors are believable -- Teressa Palmer and Frank Sweet as the tense siblings; Sam Harris as the athlete and Marni Spilane as his girlfriend; Joel Mackenzie as the picked-upon gay; Charles Baird as the patient boy with a faulty urethra; and Clementine Mellor as a girl who's always willing to help others.
The buzz of school life can easily obscure alienation and loneliness,
the film observes, and if its depiction is a little too pat, it's nonetheless worthwhile.
- 5/20/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.