12:01 PM

The little-seen '12.01' is a real gem, and displays the beauty of short films. Just the right length to explore the intriguing premise without over staying its welcome. I wish more feature length movies showed the subtlety and invention of this one!

Kurtwood Smith (Verhoeven's classic 'Robocop', and Jennifer Lynch's absolute stinker 'Boxing Helena') has never been better as a meek office worker who finds that the world is caught in a time loop, and that he is the only person conscious of the fact. Smith is utterly believable as the bewildered and desperate man who frantically searches for some kind of explanation/solution for his extraordinary situation.

A classic of its kind. Try and see it!

I remember watching this film when it was first broadcast on Showtime. I really liked it then, and still do now. Good writing and performances all around, especially by Kurtwood Smith who rarely gets a chance to play the lead in any project.

Kurtwood Smith is a really good actor and this is proof enough. The script is excellent and Smith's performance draws you right into what life has become for Myron Castleman. A living hell.

The idea of a time loop was later reused for Groundhog Day and by these same filmmakers 3 years after this came out. I vaguely remember seeing the feature length movie called 12:01 but the focus is not so much on the science behind the theory as it is in this. The theory is matter and antimatter colliding which causes a perpetual loop in time which was formed over the length of time of the collision. Everything made of matter relives the time in that loop and nothing more. Myron is one of the few (only one he meets anyway) aware of the fact that everyone is trapped reliving the same 59 minutes.

It's a dark sci fi story. No romance or comedy. More like Kafka.

Following the main character through his trials and investigations you really get a feeling of the horror and turmoil the simple every man is going through.

I also came away from this film with the quote "Consciousness is an independent variable".

Of the two 12:01 movies I consider this the more impressive. As other reviewers have mentioned the film focuses on a 59 minute loop, and shows that if you only have one hour to live over and over again then you can't achieve very much.

If you've seen Groundhog day and seriously got into the time loop, wanting to know more about why the main character was stuck then this movie might appeal as you here some science.

The similarities between this 30 minute "movie" from 1990 and the feature movie "Groundhog Day" from 1993 are too similar for them to not be more closely related. The latter surely must have been influenced by the earlier movie.

The stories are very similar, but even more similar is the outstanding way in which both movies are directed. Even though the "same" timeframe is being repeated, the director shifts the camera perspective and dialogue encountered each time so neither film is boring.