2 Seconds

2 Seconds (2 Secondes)
Directed by Manon Briand
Produced by Roger Frappier
Written by Manon Briand
Starring
Music by Dominique Grand
Sylvain-Charles Grand
Cinematography Louise Archambault
Pierre Crépô
James Gray
Edited by Richard Comeau
Production
company
Max Films Productions
Release date

September 12, 1998 (Canada)

June 25, 2003 (France)
Running time
 100 minutes
Country Canada
Language English and French interchangeably

2 Seconds (French: 2 secondes) is a Canadian drama film, released in 1998. This film premiered in 1999 at the Sundance Film Festival.[1] Written and directed by Manon Briand, 2 Seconds stars Charlotte Laurier as Laurie, a bisexual woman who takes a job as a bike courier in Montreal after being fired from her previous job as a professional downhill racer.[2] Laurie is forcefully retired as a downhill racer when her concerns about her signs of aging cause her to lose her last race by 2 seconds (hence the name of the movie). Laurie and the one bike she was allowed to keep then move in with her geeky, physics-loving brother who is trying very hard to find a girlfriend. While putting her bike together, Laurie discovers that she is missing a gear on her bicyclette so she makes do with what she has. Because of this, she breaks the chain on her bike one day, leading to her meeting with her soon-to-be best friend Lorenzo . Lorenzo is an ex Italian professional racer who currently works as a bike mechanic in his own bike shop. offered her a job at the bicycle company, but one of her co workers, Willie, tries to make her life miserable. After talking to Lorenzo, Laurie figures out what she needs to do to help herself and try to resolve things.[3]

Cast

  • Charlotte Laurier as Laurie, a professional downhill racer who gets fired because of her slight overindulgence in irresponsibility
  • Dino Tavarone as Lorenzo, an ex Italian professional racer who currently works as a bike mechanic in his own bike shop
  • Jonathan Bolduc as Jeune Lorenzo
  • Suzanne Clément as La Bella, Laurie's love interest
  • Yves Pelletier as Steff
  • Louise Forestier as Laurie's Mother[3]

Reception

Critical Reception

The American review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 76% rating based on 561 reviews, with an average rating of 3.4/5. The film however lacks an official Tomatometer score and critical consensus, due to the fact that it has not received any official English reviews on this site.[1]

IMDb which is owned by Amazon (company) has given the film a 6.7/10 based on 496 user reviews[4]

20/20 movie reviewer, Richard Cross, gave the film one star out of five stating, despite mentioning that "For such a slight story it is to 2 Seconds credit that it is quite an enjoyable time-filler" he later goes on to rebuttal his own argument by saying "The only major weak point of the film is the ending, which feels too rushed and unconvincing to evoke the emotional response it was obviously aiming for." adding the lesbian relationship and falling in love randomly and seemingly forced.[5] cgiii.com also noticed that "it tries desperately hard to be quirky and fails on every level. The central performance relies heavily on a duff script and peculiar facial expressions...Unsurprisingly, and quite rightly, forgotten."[6]

Some critics on the other hand quite enjoy the film, Brendan Kelly, praised it saying "there is no shortage of nifty visual flourishes. . .Soundtrack is an appropriately cool urban mix of jazz and modern-rock sounds."[7] The Melbourne International Film Festival called it "An understated film with an extraordinarily simple premise"[8]

Awards

Year Award Category Recipients Results
1998 Montreal World Film Festival[9] Best Canadian Film Manon Briand Winner
Best Director Manon Briand Winner
Montréal award of the best First Fiction FIlm Manon Briand Winner
Grand Prix des Ameriques Manon Briand Nominee
FedEx Award of the best Canadian Film 2 secondes (Manon Briand) Winner
1998 Namur International Festival of French-Speaking Film[10] Best First Screenplay Manon Briand Winner
1999 1st Jutra Awards Best Picture Roger Frappier Nominee
Best Director Manon Briand Nominee
Best Actor Dino Tavarone Nominee
Best Actress Charlotte Laurier Nominee
Best Screenplay Manon Briand Nominee
Best Sound Yvon Benoît

Martin Pinsonnault Hans Peter Strobl Louis Hone

Nominee
Best Editing Richard Comeau Nominee

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Briand, M. (2016). 2 Seconds. Retrieved December 01, 2016, from https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/2_seconds/
  2. ↑ Thomas Waugh, Romance of Transgression in Canada: Queering Sexualities, Nations, Cinemas. McGill-Queen's University Press, 2006. ISBN 9780773530690.
  3. 1 2 2 Seconds. (1990). Retrieved December 1, 2016, from https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0158446/
  4. ↑ Briand, Manon (2003-06-25), 2 Seconds, Charlotte Laurier, Dino Tavarone, Jonathan Bolduc, retrieved 2018-04-03
  5. ↑ "2 secondes (1998) Movie Review - 2020 Movie Reviews". 2020 Movie Reviews. Retrieved 2018-04-03.
  6. ↑ Editor, CGiii. "2 Secondes - CGiii...for LGBT films, filmmakers & festivals". cgiii.com. Retrieved 2018-04-03.
  7. ↑ Kelly, Brendan (1998-09-16). "2 Seconds". Variety. Retrieved 2018-04-03.
  8. ↑ "MIFF 2018 | Festival Archive 1952-2017". MIFF 2018. Retrieved 2018-04-03.
  9. ↑ "AWARDS OF THE MONTREAL WORLD FILM FESTIVAL-1998".
  10. ↑ 2 secondes, retrieved 2018-04-03
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