Synopsis

At 11:14 p.m. in a quiet suburban town, several seemingly unrelated incidents unfold: a drunken driver discovers a body, a group of teenagers tries to conceal a crime, and a police investigation begins to unravel the truth. Told through interlocking stories and reverse-chronological reveals, the film gradually shows how a chain of selfish choices, accidents, and cover-ups converges at one precisely timed moment.

Factoids & Trivia

• The screenplay was structured around five overlapping storylines that move backward from the central 11:14 p.m. incident. Its timing had to remain consistent across every segment.

• The production was filmed in 26 nights, with the crew averaging approximately 25 setups per night. The filmmakers referred to the hour before dawn as the "tragic hour" because daylight began to threaten the all-night shooting schedule.

• A clock visible in the town helps establish where the audience is within the film's tightly synchronized timeline.

• The character of Buzzy was originally written as a man. After reading the script, Hilary Swank asked for the role to be rewritten as a woman so she could play it.

• The film premiered at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival before receiving a limited U.S. theatrical release in August 2005 and a home-video release later that year.

• The movie was nominated in several categories at the 2006 DVD Exclusive Awards, including Best Overall Movie, and won Best Supporting Actress for Barbara Hershey.

• Several small visual and dialogue details reward close attention, including a shirt connected to the music act Sisqo and a deliberately timed blood discovery that occurs at approximately the 11-minute mark.