Set at an American school, this film revolves around an accident, a science experiment gone wrong that leaves one student clinging to life and the rest of the students and staff in utter chaos. The film opens with the moments leading up to the tragedy and from there it quickly expands as you watch the varied reactions and responses to the incident. It is fascinating, one day under an intense microscope as teachers break down, cover-up and politicize, bringing their own personal baggage into an already manic situation. The parents bicker and rage and the students assign blame and fight as they try to comprehend what happened whilst dealing with their own real life problems and situations. Like the idea of the Butterfly Effect or the waves that eminate from the drop of a pebble in water, everyone involved is twisted up and rocked in some way.
Using a large ensemble cast of mostly unknowns, it would have been easy to lose track of the story or for the individual characters to get lost but this does not happen. In fact the number of actors involved helps the film as we watch them interact, their own personal journeys contorted by others and the situation. Overheard conversations, school mis-managment and simple mistakes become huge problems and cause life changing decisions. This is high drama, people on their worst day, but the acting is sublime never straying into histrionics and over acting. Every reaction is real, understandable and the direction aids this immeasurably, with the camera almost like a bystander, an eavesdropper in every room. The editing is also magnificent, with the use of jagged jump cuts, split screen and blurry effects that add to the tension and the constant sense of unease.
In all, a magnificent film that really hits you hard, keeps you interested and emotionally engaged and that you think about long after the credits roll.
Using a large ensemble cast of mostly unknowns, it would have been easy to lose track of the story or for the individual characters to get lost but this does not happen. In fact the number of actors involved helps the film as we watch them interact, their own personal journeys contorted by others and the situation. Overheard conversations, school mis-managment and simple mistakes become huge problems and cause life changing decisions. This is high drama, people on their worst day, but the acting is sublime never straying into histrionics and over acting. Every reaction is real, understandable and the direction aids this immeasurably, with the camera almost like a bystander, an eavesdropper in every room. The editing is also magnificent, with the use of jagged jump cuts, split screen and blurry effects that add to the tension and the constant sense of unease.
In all, a magnificent film that really hits you hard, keeps you interested and emotionally engaged and that you think about long after the credits roll.