Okay folks, I’ll clue people in with a small review first, then I’ll ask questions about it.
Elephant, directed by Mr. Good Will Hunting, is a slow, quiet and sutble film about a typical day full of typical kids at a typical high school in typical Oregon. Life is normal, spare a few ups and downs that make life interesting – then it all goes Suck.
— Eric & Alex take the fate of their schoolmates and some guns, mix ’em together and , poof, Columbine. The film is shot very “matter-of-fact” like – as if the camera is just another student – or a static window that you are fortunate enough to peek through. As far as cinematography goes, it’s very similar to Gus Van Sant’s “Gerry” that you didn’t see last year. – Lots of scenes were held for a long time after dialogue finished before cutting to the next scene and other takes were simply very long: ie, running a number of minutes as we follow a student down the hallway and into classrooms – Some would find it “boring” – I found that it really gave a “typical – drawn out – nothing” day. I wished that the “static” shots were done more than they were – it really gave a solid sense that you were “spying” in on their day — people would dwindle in and out of the shot without the camera moving to follow – fascinating stuff.
I’m not too sure how I felt about the film as a whole – maybe I’ve seen too much of Hollywood, but I didn’t feel absolute archaic panic as I thought I would — everything maintained a “subtle disturbance” – as if somewhere, far away, there was something horribly wrong within the deep reaches of the universe.
Okay – Have some questions for those who have seen it:
***There are Spoilers written below this, so skip this chunk if you plan on seeing it**************** No really.
– How about this panic? Was it done well?.. Is it just me?
– Why did he make Eric and Alex gay? – Was he making a statement regarding the movie’s earlier conversation about what they “look” like? I’m not commenting on their being gay, but I don’t know why the movie was examining violence in today’s youth culture and then suddenly commented on homosexuality. Was it just for “character purposes”? The scene to me just stood out from the rest of the film as “not fitting quite right” – it was never hinted at or touched on again.
– On a lighter note, what was that game with the horrible graphics he was playing?
– Any theories on why he shot his own buddy?
***************************************************************************End Of Spoilers.****
Either way, it’s a very interesting film — although it certainly won’t blow wind up everyone’s skirt. I’m trying to decide if I loved it or if I’ll never watch it again.
