Deliciously twisted black comedy from first time writer/ director Greg Marcks that, in the style of Guillermo Arriaga’s “Amores Perros”, explores a fatal car crash from multiple perspectives.
Set during the half hour preceding the accident - which happens at 11.14 one night in the small suburban town of “Middleton” - Marcks tells the stories of five seemingly unconnected characters before bringing them together in a satisfying finale.
The five interweaving plot strands are made up of a drink driver (Thomas), local convenience clerk (Swank), over protective father (Swayze), a teenagers joyrider (Hanks), and the big breasted town tart (Cook).
They say:
Total Film: "An enjoyably unhinged black comedy full of outlandish incident and oddball casting.”
Empire: "Like vintage Tarantino – darkly comic material handled with a laudably light touch”.
BBC Films: “Like a Swiss watch, the film ticks over with a neat configuration of moving parts but the results are utterly unsurprising.”
We say:
Remarkably, this excellent Indie offering has failed to find big studio backing in the US and has sat on the shelves since its completion in 2003.
Fortunately for British audiences, however, it is now being given a long overdue UK release, although with “Superman Returns” released on the same day and “Pirates of the Caribbean” still cutting a dash through the rest of the competition it still seems unlikely that anyone on this side of the Atlantic will get to see it either.
And this is a shame because – whisper it quietly in case any fan boys are listening – this is easily the most accomplished and consistently enjoyable of the three offerings.
Mixing an ensemble cast (Patrick Swayze continues his late career renaissance with another sprightly comic turn) with clever, well paced plotting and mischievous wit, “11.14” is reminiscent of past successes such as “Go”, “Very Bad Things” and even “Pulp Fiction”.
Marcks’ misanthropic vision of humanity means it’s ok to laugh at his self seeking characters, and it’s nice to see most of them eventually getting their just deserts, even if the moral of one of the stories seems simply to be: “Don’t pee out of the window of a moving car”.
Extras:
None
CAST
Henry Thomas
Patrick Swayze
Rachel Leigh Cook
Barbara Hershey
Hilary Swank
Shawn Hatosy
Colin Hanks
DIRECTOR
Greg Marcks
TIME
85 mins
POSTED...
Sat 15 Jul 2006 at 10:23am
