2:37 poster & wallpaper

Charles Baird, Clementine Mellor, Sam Harris

A contemporary, ensemble drama telling the complex tale of six high school students whose lives are interwoven with situations that so many of today's youth are faced with. The story takes place durin...( read more  read more... )g a normal school day. At precisely 2:37 a tragedy will occur, affecting the lives of a group of students and their teachers. As the story unfolds, the individual stories of the six teenagers are revealed, each with its own explosive significance. An unwanted pregnancy unravels a terrible, dark secret; all is not as it appears for the seemingly confident school football hero; an outcast must deal with everyday taunts from his peers; a beautiful young girl battles an eating disorder; a stellar student constantly struggles to win his parents' approval; while another uses drugs to escape from his own demons.

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77% liked it

4,586 ratings

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38% liked it

8 critics

Unrated, 1 hr. 31 min.

Directed by: Murali K. Thalluri

Release Date: August 17, 2006

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Flixster Reviews (528)

  • kiriyamakazou
    May 6, 2009
    kiriyamakazou
    2:37 starts with blood coming from under a door and the implication that somebody is injured. The film then takes place over one school day leading up to the events of the beginning. As we see the lives of many students it becomes apparent they all have a reason to hurt themselve...( read more)s or each other. Pregnancy, incest, homosexuality, wetting yourself, all come into play as the motives. Like Elephant we see the same events from different perspectives and it's all kept relatively insular. The performances are great, but it also seems melodramatic as everybody has a problem. It soon becomes a bit obvious that it's the ones that don't speak up that have the real problems. It's a film about being selfish and not noticing the lives and problems of those around you.
  • SilentWarProductions2009
    January 8, 2009
    SilentWarProductions2009
    Directed by: Murali K. Thalluri.
    Starring: Teresa Palmer, Frank Sweet, Charles Baird, Clementine Mellor.

    << "You gotta be tough, otherwise people will stomp you down to the fucking ground, it's a jungle and if you can't fake your way through school...( read more), how the fuck are you going to make it in the real world?" >>

    The story follows a group of 6 teenagers over the course of one day at a contemporary school in Australia (similar to any around the world). It all starts at the end of the day, with a suicide of one of these students...but who? What follows is a trip into the lives of each individual and the struggles with their personal demons.

    Murali K. Thalluri has a gift for cinema. He achieves what so many try to do and that is to grab the audience and shake them up till they have felt what he is trying to deliver, but never shying away from the characters, the story and its themes. His screenplay's basic plot and ideas are nothing new, it covers every common problem with teens such as bullying, sex, sexuality, suicide, just to name a few...but he tackles all of them with such unforced power and grittiness, he tackles the themes realistically to the point where you can't help but turn your head away. This skill and depth really grabs an audience like me, out to find something fresh and with a reasonable amount of depth and understanding for its characters, but he also uses small conventional twists to grab the others.

    He uses a lot of 'Steadicam' style shots with long takes, but he crafts every story together professionally and the brilliant use of editing makes it very compelling, as does the cinematography which is beyond impressive, capturing the right tone in every aspect.

    What impressed me was the cast. A group of unprofessional, unknown Australians ain't expected to grab an audience on first go (for some), but anyone who thinks that (like I did) is wrong. Each character is given there own powerful story and every actor delivers outstanding performances, drawing the emotional power from the complexities of there characters. I can't just mention one or two names, as the entire cast impresses.

    Too many compare this to 'Elephant', all because of similarities in basic plot. 'Elephant' is an art film and a completely different style, 2:37 is different. Murali K. Thalluri is a name to look out for and it excites me that such a young man (22) living so close to home creates such a shocking and powerful debut. One of the very best Australian debuts I have ever seen, sure, we have all been through school in our lives and we know how some of the common problems are and there's nothing new here with its basic themes, but the unknown depth of these themes and how it covers teen angst with such knowledge and power is brilliant. Disturbing and very hard to watch, 2:37 hit a note with me and deserves worldwide recognition.

    88/100

    << "People are scared of dying...I'm not..." >>
  • Passenger1986
    September 20, 2008
    Passenger1986
    I really wanted to like this film. I really did. The topic of suicide is not one to be taken lightly and I had high hopes that this film would present us with people we could grow to care about. And it did not.

    That's not to say I didn't care for anyone in this or that I can't u...( read more)nderstand why someone would want to kill themself. I've been there, who among us hasn't? But the key to a film about someone contemplating suicide is the audience's empathy with the characters. Whether it's the person about to kill themself or the people who must shoulder the fallout from that decision, we cannot have a one dimensional character throughout the movie and open our hearts to them.
    So who does this film offer?
    - a football player who believes the solution to his sexual orientation problem is to beat up people
    - a drug addict, who LOOKS like your stereotypical drug addict (way to be subtle there, Murali K. Thalluri). I find it hard to like drug addicted characters, regardless of other traits. In comedies it works well but in serious films it's difficult. Candy didn't wow me over (though Abbie Cornish was the lead so no surprises there. It's like she chooses annoying characters on purpose) but I am hoping Half Nelson will make me see things differently.
    - a boy who rapes his sister... I will make this clear now, I cannot sympathise with a rapist. End of discussion.

    To be honest, I actually expected all the kids to commit suicide, not like a murder-suicide pact but as a statement that no matter how different they are, they all bleed the same and they all feel emotions. We come from many places but we all feel. And if that indeed were the ending, I would have given this higher marks. So when it does reach the end of the movie, who is it that decides to end their life? The character least focused on.
    Now I know at this point, you could say "Well, that was the point, she was virtually a background character so it makes more sense." No it doesn't. We are given no motivation on her part, we know little of her problems. So for all we can assume, she might just be starved for attention, be it good or bad. She might be making a mountain out of a molehill as some teens are oft to do. Like I said at the beginning, suicide is not to be taken lightly. How do we know she hasn't? It's not to say her problems AREN'T important, but how are we to know? How can we be expected to care for her final fate if the movie doesn't give us anything to go on? That may be the intention of the film, and if so, it's the wrong way to do it.

    You can say I've missed the point. I say the movie decides to give me characters I have no regard for because some of them are despicible and some of them make stupid choices. I do not point and laugh at people who choose to take the hard choice of removal of their own life. I've been down a dark road more than once and I can understand the thoughts some people would be thinking at that time. I'm fortunate enough not to have lost anyone to suicide. What bearing does this have on the movie? It's my means of saying this movie should have been an epiphany. Instead, it angers me. All that potential wasted.
  • EarthlyAlien
    May 13, 2007
    EarthlyAlien
    At first, 2:37 may (and probably will) strike you as just another look at the teenage/high school life, with the typical and endless dramas and heart aches, done like a million times before. Truth be told, it feels that way in more than one occasion. That's why I honestly ...( read more)didn't think I'd enjoy it. But guess what? I did.

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    Murali K. Thalluri (remember the name), 22 years old, wrote 2:37 when he was 19. In 2003 a friend of his named Kelly commits suicide, not without first sending him a taped message, which he receives two days later. Six months later, after an unsuccessful suicide attempt of his own, he wakes up and writes 2:37 in two days. True story. Now, the film is presented as being 'purely fictional', but that's the real story behind it. The only thing that Thalluri kept was the name of the girl, Kelly. A tribute to his friend, I suppose.

    The storyline itself follows the lifes of six different teenagers on a random school day. Each one with their own problems and stories. The school football hero who isn't really what people think he is, a supposedly virgin whose recently discovered pregnancy unravels a terrible secret, a stellar student who constantly struggles to win his father's approval, an anti-social gay who finds on drugs his escape, a typically bullied british kid and a 'popular' beautiful girl who deals with an eating disorder. The casting process was typical of a low budget film, like this one. Just regular, first time (except Teresa Palmer) australian kids, but great actors! Special mention to Frank Sweet. There are no protagonists. The story unfolds equally through each one of the students. At exacly 2:37 pm a tragedy will occur.

    Anyone who has seen Gus Van Sant's Elephant has probably realized the similarities. It's true, there are many. Technically speaking, the dreamy camera work (both used a SteadiCam), the long takes, the back and forths, the different perspectives, the silent way in which the film evolves in a sort of countdown mode. A countdown to the tragedy that will eventually happen. If in Elephant it was the school massacre, here it's the unexpected suicide of Kelly. At some times, there was a clear sense of déjà vu. It was strange, but I don't agree with the negative critiques. Even if Thalluri did find inspiration in Van Sant's work, all film makers throughout History did that. And the truth is that very very few achieved what he did. To write, direct and produce such a crafted, haunting and meaningfull piece of film-making at the tender age of 22. *Applauses*

    Watch it open-mindedly, you won't regret it.
  • nuheart
    March 11, 2007
    nuheart
    Super-predictable story about six high school misfits goes exactly where you think it's going to go -- right up to the end, which is only slightly less predictable (at least not as obviously telegraphed) because of the director's use of the bait-and-switch technique.
  • Nenebelle
    November 16, 2009
    Nenebelle
    Recommended by EdwardObsessed1901.
  • jschartrand
    November 2, 2009
    jschartrand
    Reminiscent of Elephant, the movie follows the same paths with his own twist and without this one, especially, the movie would have been a cold too melodramatic movie.
  • 5oclockcoffee
    October 20, 2009
    5oclockcoffee
    A very predictable story and what a crap copy of Elephant (shooting style and script development).





  • MandyDarko
    September 22, 2009
    MandyDarko
    Un drama que sigue las vivencias cotidianas de un grupo de adolescentes y un final un tanto desconcertante. Hay un muy buen uso del tiempo, es lo que más sobresale, por otro lado creo que las actuaciones no fueron las mejores.
  • dyingangel259
    August 22, 2009
    dyingangel259
    Amazing movie.
    The way it's filmed makes it feel very real.
    I love the storyline. It keeps you guessing until the very end.
    Every character has their own secret and is tragic in their own way just like highschool in real life. Everyone has their own story.
    This whole movie show...( read more)s a lot of raw emotions and controversial topics.
    It's just a great, great movie.

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Comments

  • shoegal83
    August 20, 2006
    shoegal83
    this movie is an australian one and i really want to see it. it's just coming out at the movies here (in aust.) and is getting rave reviews. ca't believe it's out on dvd already in america!
  • wildchild163
    August 18, 2006
    wildchild163
    this movie looks so good i realy wont to see it!
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  • Kevin Costner has starred in Dances with Wolves and The Bodyguard but how many Oscars has he WON? You Chose: a. ''' (Incorrect - 0 pts) Correct Answer: b. 1 (37%) i think he won more then one in fact im sure he won more then one oscar how manny   Answer »
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