Elephant (Gus Van Sant)

Films/DVD Asylum

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Has anyone seen this? Opinions?
I watched this film last night on DVD without knowing anything about it. It is a minimalist film, without a plot, just an event. It's better if (like me) you don't know what the event is, but I'm sure any review or video-store blurb will give it away. The film shows one day in a high school. The school seems unreal, half-deserted, sound muted. The camera follows each student from the back, floating like a spirit. Long, metitative takes remind one of Japanese cinema without imitating it. Rhythmic devices produce a dreamlike feeling, showing the same chance encounter from the perspectives of each person -- an overused technique that regains interest here simply because the encounter is meaningless.
A crucial point is that the film makes absolutely no statement about the human condition -- an artistic decision that rescues it from the ordinary.
I haven't yet read any reviews of this film, but I'm sure it has provoked strong reactions both ways. I can't recommend it to everyone, but I thought it was interesting, a long long way for the director of Good Will Hunting to have travelled. It is one of the most unusual films I've seen in a while.

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Parts Connexion

Topic - Elephant (Gus Van Sant) - ephemere 09:19:10 05/07/04 (6)

Great filmwork - gwlvrns 13:19:29 05/09/04 (1)

It's even better than that - ephemere 17:15:18 05/09/04 (0)

Re: "Psycho" - rico 13:48:53 05/07/04 (3)

I've wondered - Bulkington 13:56:17 05/07/04 (2)

Re: I've wondered - rico 15:37:45 05/07/04 (1)

Re: The difference - rico 19:42:54 05/09/04 (0)

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