Strong and Moving!

Purely Joyful Movie!

Did you people see the same film I saw?

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

There is no doubt that director Aimee Lagos has talent and she may go on to bigger things. Some moments of this film are exciting and others are moving. The actors, though largely unknown, give capable performances. Based on a true story, this is a film about how four lives come together in a dangerous carjacking which spirals out of control, even for the perpetrators. The time sequence jumps back and forth and while it's easy enough to follow, it gets irritating. It's also filled with thoroughly unpleasant people and drops the f-bomb repeatedly, and although it's probably an accurate portrayal of the big city, it's hard to care too much even for the innocent victims. Besides the constant flashbacks and flash-forwards, the worst part of this film seems determined to wallow in squalor. There are also a lot of early scenes which contribute little to the central story and clutter the film. The last half hour of the film is the best, when the film no longer has flashbacks and flash-forwards. I was disappointed even though there were moments that were well-done and compelling.

Like another film CRASH, 96 MINUTES tackles the subject of race, gangs, and inner- city lifestyles. It is heartbreaking in it's execution of the story. Two young females, whom are approaching college graduation are out with friends when the are approached by a man with a gun demanding their car keys. After one women is shot and is nearing death, they are put into the car, and brought along with men. Sounds pretty simple, but the use of non- linear story telling used to tell the back story on the two females, and their two captors is very compelling. By the end you realize that the women aren't the only ones thrown into a bad situation. Dre, one of the "villains", brought much sympathy to his character. It's really an intense character study on the mind of this kid, who seemingly has his life on track until this night. In the aftermath, when Carly is in the visiting room at the prison, my heart went out to both characters, both sides of the glass. Actions and choices are everything, and the quickest decisions can change and ruin your life. Very well done film, certainly deserves a better release than it got.

This movie has no morality and is a message of the lowest denominator playing to the worst racial stereotypes possible. The main character of the plot is this kid who is supposedly trying to do the right thing, good grades etc. while caught up in a crime displays no backbone and yet is shown to be a sympathetic subject by this plot. This movie has the worst message of cowardliness and self-involvement never leading the viewer into something that would justify any of the violence other than childish thrills of what gang life is from the furthest of actual events even shown in a newspaper, altogether a complete waste of time leaving me only somewhat angry for the experience and I can only condemn this movie in the most strongest manner that comes to mind.

I was fortunate enough to catch this at SxSW a few weeks ago and it's continued to stick with me. I can see the obvious comparison to CRASH although it's a bit unfounded as this movie really didn't seem to be about race at all to me. It just felt like it was about four kids struggling to make their way. Four kids who were all searching for something. Sure their circumstances were different and so they were searching for different things, but what unified them was that they were all just looking to be accepted by their families or their peers. To me, that's a universal story and one that lots of people can relate to. Evan Ross and Brittany Snow gave really amazing performances - well beyond what we've seen of them previously and both stand out to me a real talents to watch. The movie isn't perfect and I'm sure some will find it to be on the nose, but that's only because so many people don't have the life experience to know that this is the way it goes. I've worked in a shelter for homeless youth for several years and the stories these kids tell me are not too dissimilar. I would encourage all of those who see the themes as stereotypical to get outside of their own box for 2 minutes and spend some time with those who will you give example after example of how the youth in this country still struggle with the same things as they did 10, 20, and 30 years ago.