Review of Gerry (2002) by Alex M — 02 May 2004

[size=3][i]Gerry [/i]is one of the most maddening, baffling, potentially divisive films I have ever seen...but it is also mysterious, elusive and undeniably beautiful. The film has been shunned by many critics and audience members and written off as a slow-paced, ponderous, needlessly pretentious waste of time that merely observes two lost men walking around the desert, unsure of which direction they are going in. It is difficult to refute that description of the film...I acknowledge that the movie is slow, requires patience, does not tell a complex story, is certainly not entertaining, and may not even be particularly profound. And yet I can not deny that [i]Gerry [/i]gripped me from its opening shot and captivated me with its confident style and mysterious narrative. The story (if that is the right word) of the film is remarkably simple: two young men (Casey Affleck and Matt Damon) who call each other Gerry set out on a hiking trip. They quickly decide to turn back, but find that they are lost in the desert and seem to be walking endlessly without ever getting close to civilization. Unlike Robert Zemeckis' [i]Cast Away[/i], [i]Gerry [/i]does not immerse itself in realism and examine the ways in which the two men stay alive. The movie is an odd hybrid of realism and allegory, and although the story can be taken at face value, director Gus Van Sant seems to be making some sort of existential statement about how humans are constantly faced with the choice of struggling to stay alive or simply giving up and dying. Van Sant never makes his themes or ideas particularly clear, yet that is not a weakness of the movie, because it allows the viewer to use their own intelligence and imagination to decipher the mystery of the movie. There is the possibility that there is absolutely no depth to [i]Gerry[/i]'s story and Van Sant is simply making an experimental film with seemingly endless shots of either the two men walking or of the desert landscape. Even if that is the case, [i]Gerry [/i]does not suffer because it is so pure and relentless in its slow-paced style. Although Matt Damon and Casey Affleck have almost no dialogue, their performances are strong because they convey the deep friendship the two Gerrys have for one another. Even though Van Sant is making a somewhat surreal film, the two actors always remain steeped in naturalism, and resist the urge to telegraph their fear or desperation (a lesson the actors in [i]The Blair Witch Project [/i]could have used). [i]Gerry [/i]is sure to frustrate many viewers, and although I was thoroughly moved by it and recommend seeing it, I can understand arguments that claim the film is pretentious tripe. Pretentious or not, [i]Gerry [/i]is an unforgettable film, one that creates a unique mood and pace and never compromises its vision. It is that truly rare movie that reaches for transcendence rather than simply trying to entertain us.[/size].

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