We were able to watch this movie on Netflix streaming. From the brief description I figured I would like, and I found it to be even better than my expectations.Set and filmed in the Seattle Washington area, it features a high school boy who has always been fast, and wants to be the fastest 400M runner on his team. But he has issues, mostly stemming from an abusive and no good older brother. When he has issues with the track coach he drops off the team. But someone tells him of an older coach that may be able to help him.The older coach uses unusual methods, seemingly unrelated to running fast. It turns out he is testing the boy, to see if he has the patience and the guts to take instruction and give it his all. They even use the old "wax on, wax off' reference. And, the old coach wants him to run the mile, not the 400 meters.The boy is Kelly Blatz, about 26, who plays Drew Jacobs. Blatz was an all-star high school athlete and looks very comfortable in his role as a runner. The old coach is Richard Jenkins who once again takes a generic role and makes it special. Also good is Analeigh Tipton as Lisa, also a runner and with eyes for Drew.As the story unfolds it is made clear several times that what they are doing isn't so much about winning races on the track but clearing out your inner demons so that you can accomplish what you want. A very special small film, never dull and always enjoyable, and with a few surprises.SPOILERS: Drew's brother is getting drugs from some thugs, and Drew is expected to carry drugs and money back and forth by running with a shoulder bag. There is a showdown of sorts at Drew's home, the old coach sees it and calls cops, but he is accidentally shot and dies. The brother and other thugs end up in prison, and even though Drew had not won the regional mile race to go to state finals, on his own he ran his mile in 3:57 as we see in parallel the state championship race won in 4:03. And as the movie ends we get a short feel-good scene of one year later and Drew is lining up at the start of a college race.

Yes there were the standard clichés of high school underdog athlete from the wrong side of town. But there were enough fine qualities to this film to overcome stereotypes of the genre.The outcome was realistic and that's refreshing. I've never seen the lead before, so I was able to believe him as the character without thinking of him as an actor from some other film.No one was over-the-top. That's a big plus too. The gangster was pretty ordinary, the brother sleepy for the most part, the girl quiet and real, and the mom subtle and resigned. I've seen Richard Jenkins do these parts before, so I would have preferred someone else, but nevertheless, he did a decent job.I totally get the message on a personal level. I have never been able to break through to that level of personal commitment required for greatness in anything. This kid had to.Nice cinematography, adequate use of emotional music without being obnoxious. But this is a dark, slow film and it requires a special degree of commitment to stick with it. Not unlike that required of a long distance runner.

This film tells the story of a young man who takes up running as a way to get a college scholarship, so he can leave the undesirable social situation he is in.The story of him forming a bond with a older coach, striving to win could have been touching, but "4 Minute Mile" doesn't achieve the emotional intensity that I hoped for. Mostly it's too do with the ineffective delivery of the plot. I watched the first ten minutes three times but I was still not entirely sure who was who. In addition, how the young man and the coach bond is unconvincing and poorly explained. And I think Cam Gigandet is under utilized in the film. Fortunately Richard Jenkins is there to save the day, but it still doesn't save this film from being rather flat and uninteresting.

As a sports film (of which there are many each year, mostly in the B-genre, most you will never hear about) this little gem has more in common with Eastwood's Gran Torino. In other words -- oh this sounds so cliché, but sometimes only a cliché will suffice -- this really isn't a film about winning, or a film about running, but a film about life. Life. The one sport we all have in common. The one sport we compete in each day, whether we want to or not. The 4-minute mile becomes a metaphor for merely living your life with integrity, with impeccability. With its sights set so high, this would be such an easy film to mess up. The balance is so delicate. Heavy-handed direction would make the viewer feel manipulated, or "Disneyed." And too light a touch would miss the mark completely. Canadian director Charles-Olivier Michaud, with very few credits in features, simply nails it. I mean nails it. Pitch perfect direction. About as far from Michael Bay and the Transformers as the Earth is from the Moon. And the cast is uniformly excellent, especially veteran warhorse Richard Jenkins -- who steals his scenes so subtly you don't realize it until the film is over -- and Analeigh Tipton, who has to simultaneously be provocative enough to attract a boy who wasn't looking for a relationship in the first place, yet practical enough to cement that relationship as the seismic tremors in the script come one after another. A gem. A perfect gem.