Review of Elephant (2015) by Matt S — 16 Apr 2013

Elephant was great up until the school shooting scene. The exploration into the characters was riveting. However, once the school shooting starts everybody starts acting in irrational ways. After hearing gunshots one teacher tells the group to continue discussing if you can tell that someone is gay, a couple walks around the school aimlessly, probably passing multiple exits before deciding to hide, a janitor sees two boys carrying guns and continues about his business seemingly uninterested in warning others or getting out of the school, and upon seeing two camo-clad gun-wielding men another character decides to stop to take a picture.

The irrational tendencies of the characters, save John, forces the viewer to either disregard the actions or try to rationalize them, both of which seem frivolous. At the end, Van Sant undermines his work, but the first hour is plenty to compensate.