But
don’t let a little thing like an in-your-face suicide scene from
putting you off seeing one of the best Australian films of the year.
From just that one scene, writer/director Murali K Thalluri has
succeeded - it’ll stay with you. It’ll make you think. Importantly,
it’ll make everyone either think twice, or at least consider, the
effects of suicide.
Reportedly based on the story of a friend
who offed themself, Thalluri‘s film is set over the course of a day,
where we meet a string of troubled – one might be pregnant, another is
hiding the fact that he could be gay, and another is fighting the
memories of being sexually abused – high schoolers. At 2:37 PM, one of
them (we don’t know who, until the final moments of the film) will lock
themselves in a room and end their life.
Because we do get to
know all the characters before the ‘event’ occurs, it makes that end
scene all the more harder to watch. In some respects, it’s like
watching a friend slit their wrists. It’s not easy to watch. But again,
it’s meant to affect. Films with a strong message like this – it
touches heavily upon the notion that ‘you just can never truly know
what’s going on inside some people’s minds’ – shouldn’t be easy to
watch, not if they want something to sink in. A lot of the time, films
that tackle important subjects like the one here, just skim the
surface, and as a result, we take away nothing. Not the case here.
It
is doing the job of an important community service announcement,
informing the parents/teachers/those that aren’t aware of the teenage
troubles of today, that these things do happen – and it’s something
that shouldn’t be dismissed.
By no means is 2:37
an entertaining movie. No way. Instead, it’s an enlightening, well
performed (all the youngsters are rather superb in it, even when their
dialogue isn’t at its most convincing), and topical feature, which at
best, signals a global cry for help.
EXTRAS Controversial (You may recall, some folks saying he made up the story?)
director Murali Thalluri provides an enlightening and informative
commentary on the DVD, that's well worth listening to. There's also a
bunch of deleted scenes and a making-of that might tickle your testes. Conclusion:
Movie: 70% Extras: 60%
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