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Category:    Home > Reviews > Drama > Teens > Sexuality > Abuse > High School > British > 2:37 (2006/IFC/MPI DVD)

2:37 (2006/IFC/MPI DVD)

 

Picture: C+     Sound: C+     Extras: C-     Feature: C

 

 

So many bad teen films have been made that even ambitious ones can falter and in the case of Murali K. Thalluri’s 2:37 (2006), the film has every kind of character you could imagine.  Set in a British High School, there are four different students with a secret.  Among these are being a rapist, being gay (as if they were equivalent), possibly being pregnant, a jock with a secret and even a young man with a sexual deformity.  Add homophobes and teaches who don’t seem to care enough and you got serious issues and people becoming formulized.

 

We get on-camera confessions that never are believable, can be shrill and even trivialize serious subjects.  For all the film brings up (brave or just to exploit the issues), it never can begin to finish what it started (especially at 95 minutes) and for as graphic as it gets, has little new to say and narrow substance or character development to back it.  Also, the characters seem too much alike, which is a flaw on the part of the director’s script.

 

I give the young actors credit for being as bold as they are, but the inexperience of all holds back a production that could have been truly important if only the director had something to say.  Otherwise, you have seen it all before, unless you do not see enough British TV or films.  Too bad, because this was a big missed opportunity.

 

The anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image is shot with a mix of 16mm film, low definition and high definition film.  The mix is lensed by Director of Photography and does not always make sense or work.  The black and white is bad, motion blur when it shows up bad and editing mixed at best.  Color is fair, but this is like watching a phony documentary more often than it should be.  As for the Dolby Digital 5.1 mix, it is remarkable that it has no serious location audio issues, but it does not have much of a soundfield either, so expect good playback at best.  Extras include a trailer and brief Making Of featurette.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo


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