1:54

Great show and closed captioning

great movie

1:54 is a French-Canadian film about how the protagonist, a gay (or, perhaps, bi) 11th grade high school student-athlete deals with a tragic event and bullying by his classmates. Among other French-language films like “My Life on Ice” or “You’ll Get Over it” which have somewhat similar set-ups (gay high school student-athletes who face ridicule and discrimination), this one is certainly a contender. Although the film has some very good attributes, it also has some flaws that cause it to not meet or exceed its peers. On the positive side, the film is well-constructed in terms of cinematography and editing. The lead actor (Antoine-Olivier Pilon) is top-rate; the supporting cast is pretty good. The film’s strongest aspect is in how it realistically shows the way social media can be used by today’s high school students to rapidly, viciously, and totally destroy the reputation of their classmates. The scene in which Pilon’s character reads and reacts to the comments made in response to a surreptitiously-made and embarrassing video of him is the movie’s most powerful, authentic, and agonizing moment. My negative reactions vary in scale. Pilon is a fine actor, but he does not quite have the lithe physique needed to convincingly play an 800m runner who could compete at the national level; he’s built for, say, something like baseball. Most of the other characters are cardboard. The adult characters are the most poorly developed. Like a lot of films that have teenagers front and center, the characters who are adults are few-and-far-between, marginalized, and impotent. Homosexuality -- a key factor in the characters and action of 1:54 -- is almost unseen and unspoken. It’s as if writer/director Yan England was afraid to present it. It made the film seem, in part, like an after-school-TV-special made in the 1980s in its approach to sexuality. And then there’s the ending. I do find it difficult to criticize the film for its dark and intense conclusion, especially given the sad reality of violence that routinely occurs at high schools. Yet, the conclusion of 1:54 caused me to lose all sympathy for Pilon’s character or his plight. By the end of it, everyone seems to be a loser. I don’t know. Maybe that was the point.

I thought it was a very good movie, but didn't like the ending.

Excellent movie, very well done

I had a real problem with this one . after seeing how his lover was treated why would this guy trust some one like that. not a keeper

I had no problems with the subtitles...maybe I wish I did. Horrible, Horrible film, esp. for Gay Teens. Just shows you can't be Gay & Happy & Survive. It might have been relevant 30 years ago, but now it's only a film to make you feel ashamed, Soo ashamed of being Gay that the only way to survive being bullied is to kill yourself. Gays don't have Happy Endings, so just End it Yourself. Do not buy this, I did and bitterly regret it.

I reluctantly gave this movie 3 stars, Reluctantly, because I wanted to give it 5 stars. it had a lot of potential! a lot! and in the end, they decided to make this a typical, main stream gay movie, by killing off the main character. So much time was spent in building his character, to the point where you were experiencing what he was going through. I know that the world can be a very hostile place, if people find out that a person is gay. Hostile, to the point of violence and death. We all know that already. And that part of the theme was brought out very well in this movie. But what message did the writers send to the audience by killing off the main character? And, what message could they have sent out, if this person stood his ground? If this person fought back, and even became victorious? Tim, the main character, was the faster runner. He could have won that race, stood up against Jeff (his hostile competitor), and challenged him in a face off, perhaps forcing his competitor to back down, and maybe realize that being gay is not all that bad. This movie followed the footsteps that so very many gay movies follow today... you build and develop the character, to the point where everyone feels for him, then in the end, as if running out of ideas on how to end the movie in a positive note, just simply kill off the main character. WHAT A LET DOWN !!! WHAT LACK OF VISION. WHAT LACK OF THOUGHT GOING INTO THIS MOVIE. I deducted 2 stars, for such a negative ending, and so much lack of vision. What a waist! If you are in the mood to see another movie where the main character is gay, and bites the dust at the end, then this movie is for you! If you want to see thought, and imagination, and a movie ending in a positive fashion, then move on to something else.

Il s'agit là du premier film du québécois YAN ENGLAND et le moins que l'on puisse dire est qu'il réussit de façon magistrale son premier essai. Un drame terrible et haletant qui nous permet de revoir ANTOINE OLIVIER PILON déjà vu dans l'hallucinant MOMMY de XAVIER DOLAN. 1:54 est le temps que doit faire sur 800 mètres un jeune adolescent de 16 ans pour participer aux championnats nationaux d'athlétisme. Il s'agit là juste d'un des paramètres de ce film où vont se greffer toutes les difficultés que celui ci rencontre : son rapport avec les autres élèves dû à son homosexualité latente, son rapport délicat avec son père en raison du décès de sa mère. Sans spoiler la fin du film, disons que lorsque tous les autres lycéens apprendront son orientation sexuelle par le biais d'un lycéen mal intentionné, le drame sera là, irréversible. Un film qui vous met KO par sa maitrise et sa direction d'acteurs, à recommander absolument.

Der Film überzeugt sowohl inhaltlich, wie auch technisch und schauspielerisch. Er geht unter die Haut, zeigt eindrücklich, was Mobbing anrichten kann. Was mir aber einmal mehr fehlt, ist die klare Botschaft, dass Mobbing nicht einfach mit "es tut mir Leid, ich wollte das nicht, es war nur Spass" abgehakt ist. Leider zeigt einmal mehr auch dieser Film nicht, dass Mobbing für die Täter (strafrechtliche) Konsequenzen hat (haben MUSS). Auch Mitschüler (in dieser Altersklasse) tragen ebenso Mitverantwortung. Wer mitmacht ist auch (mindestens moralisch) mitschuldig. Ich wünschte mir deshalb einen Film, der nicht nur die Tragödie der Opfer, sondern auch das "DANACH" der Täter aufzeigt. Nur dann kann der Film jugendlichen (schwulen) Mobbing-Opfern auch Mut machen. Aber trotzdem: absolut sehenswert

Film qui se déroule dans le milieu sportif étudiant. 1 minute 54 secondes, c'est le temps que les jeunes visent pour le 800 mètres. Moi je pensais que c'était pour un 400 mètres ! Je trouve déjà difficile de faire moins de 2 minutes au 400 mètres.. Bref ils m'ont découragé ces jeunes, trop fortiches! Bon le film ne parle pas que de course, il y a aussi de la rivalité entre deux garçons et une histoire d'amour euh.. voilà mais je ne m'en souviens plus très bien.

Grosse surprise en allant le voir en salle, je ne m'attendais pas du tout à cette histoire. Le film m'a tellement marqué que j'ai mis plus de 30 minutes à penser à autre chose lorsque je suis sorti de la salle... Là en mettant le DVD, j'ai eu à nouveau des frissons rien que sur le menu. Un film fort.

So oder Anders hat man das Thema schon gesehen. Allerdings war das Ende mehr als überraschend. Tragisch und ergreifend. Ein faszinierender Film mit echt tollen Darstellern.