Review of Elephant (1993) by Liam C — 19 Aug 2011

With such a touchy subject, and such a horrific event in American History how can one watch this film without turning it off, and being disgusted that Hollywood would reenact such a tragedy? Get Gus Van Sant to direct it, that's how. This film is so flawlessly done, that although the final action scenes are hard to watch, you keep watching.

This film follows a number of high school teenagers through an ordinary day of high school in no particular order, in which we see the day from a certain kids perspective, which weaves into things we've already seen before. This is a very clever way to tell the story and works astoundingly. Each kid having some problem or hobby that distinguishes themselves from another. This film even follows the killers as it leads them to do the deed that they did.

The first thing that caught my attention was the long shots with no cuts. I believe one shot goes on for 6 minutes without cutting. For some this may seem boring and drawn out, but to people who analyze the film, it really makes us feel like we're walking right along with the student(s) we're following. This film is one of the best re-creation of a high school setting i've ever seen. The audience really feels that this is a true high school setting because all the characters feel like real high school students (well, because they are). This film is not "hollywoodized" as I might say it, in that there is so sappy, cliche dialogue that tries to capture the attention of the viewers. The final action scenes don't try top be like an action movie they stick right to the source material which makes it so dreadful to watch. I feel that the reason we can't look away from the final, dreadful scene is because we're being left out of anything really surprising or scary for the entire movie so we need to know what happens. Finally, I actually find the ending refreshing while others might find it as a drop off. I like how we never see what happens to some key characters, because just like real life, we're so caught up in the hectic happenings that we don't really: "go back to save our loved ones in a heroic way" like some Hollywood movies these days. I also, although depressing, like the end shot, where the killer is choosing which important character to kill first. This really leaves us hanging, but really supplies us with a horrific image as we leave this film. An image that will stick in your mind, and scare you death.