Review of Elephant (2003) by Cristian O — 06 Sep 2010

Gus Van Sant, the Spike Lee of gay cinema and the creator of the visually-astounding-and-sometimes-awkward "My Own Private Idaho", returned to his roots after going overboard with the Hollywood feature ("Good Will Hunting", some Hitchcock remake, "Finding Forrester") with his Death Trilogy, or the three experimental films that focus on problems with our society by using real-life deaths or variations thereof: "Gerry" (guy killing his friend in the desert, represents how modernity screwed us up), this (kids shoot up schools, more or less a modern-day extension of the "kids-playing-with-ants" scene from Peckinpah's "The Wild Bunch" and shows how even earth-shattering violence can come in the most nonchalant of nonchalant days), and "Last Days" (Cobain and glamorization of celebrity). This film is what I'm writing this review about - I know people who love this (or, rather, the characters) not as some sort of film about Columbine, but as an artistic triumph for the prevalent Van Sant.

This film, as I said before, is about a particularly normal day of high school that ends in a bloodbath inspired by homosexual oppression, Nazis, fascination, violent video games, and mostly no particular reason other than to be a more verbal Tor Johnson a la "The Beast of Yucca Flats". We get John, a blonde guy whose father is drunk like a madman and silently weeps about it (and runs from the school before this bloodbath can take place); Elias, a photographer who may or may not be fascinated with violence himself (and may have spared in the bloodbath); Eric, a bullied kid who is more or less gay; and Alex, his partner in crime and the one who has all the videos about Hitler or something. The characters aren't so important, though. It's how surprisingly mundane and disturbing this film can get is what the film is.

Plus, if you want to see this, at least have patience. The bloodbath is your reward, you sick, twisted pervert.