1. David

   10

   Simply put, this is a film where you either like its style or you do not. I very much fall into the former category. It is a hypnotizing and harrowing experiene. The films greatest strength besides just the superb cinematography is its portrayl or real people- I mean REAL people. We all knew people like these in high school, they are not cliches at all- quite the opposite. Even if you hated this movie I know you could never forget it, and to those that "got" it, this is truly one of the greatest films of the new millenium thus far.… Expand

   • Helpful? 3 of 3 users said Yes.
2. pinattar

   8

   This is one of those movies that is not for everyone. This is a very "directorial" movies, by that I mean you will either like the style and find it interesting or you will dislike it and find it extremely boring. I really liked the style that Gus Van Sant went for. The the various point of views of the characters, the slow pacing and the improvised dialogue all added to the movie, it made it fell very organic. Also the slow pacing made you fell very comfortable, almost like it was trying to make you let you guard down for what we all know is inevitably going to happen. Also the slow pacing and random people talking and thing happening around the focus character just reinforce the feeling of realness. Because in reality highschool is like that, it is boring, it is slow, things happen around you that you don't affect you or you participate in, and that also makes what happens even more devastating. As for the acting, it was all very good especially considering that this was most (if not all) of their first time acting. Alex Frost was definitely the stand out for me, as was Eric Deulen. Also the movies also isn't preachy, it doesn't force anything down your throat, it just presents what happens and leaves you to make your own decisions on why things happened. And if you do watch it, keep in mind that the majority of the movie takes place within the period of about ten minutes. 8.8/10… Expand

   • Helpful? 0 of 0 users said Yes.
3. Paul_Yoon

   7

   Through the end, this movie is quite dreary, gloomy, and even egregious for some explicitly violent scenes. However, Van Sant makes this movie astonishing, and this move is totally sensational.… Expand

   • Helpful? 0 of 0 users said Yes.
4. Bunny

   1

   Here we go. And I thought "Natural Born Killers" was bad. I was glad that I had some cold drinks while "Date Movie" was playing, even gladder to turn it off.
   
   And now, possibly the worst film ever made, "Elephant".
   
   Don't read this if you have any intention of seeing this movie. I suggest you do something more rewarding though...have you clipped your toenails? You could also count the grains of salt in a salt shaker, that could be okay.
   
   I wasn't offended by the content, but by the complete banality of this movie. I know, I know, it was supposed to be like "real" life. It's supposed to be "art". But just because something is filmed differently doesn't mean it's any good.
   
   Here is the story (you don't need to read this if you know anything about the Columbine school shooting): It's a regular day at high school, until two misfit kids bring in guns and kill a bunch of people. There you go.
   
   This movie was LAZY. There was not one good character in this film. Of course, this was also for the purpose of being more "real", but come on. The "protagonists" were cookie cutter stereotypes the artsy photographer, the jock, the bulimic girls, the cafeteria workers smoking weed, etc...etc........And the acting! Yikes. The scene at the end, where the blond kid is "warning" others not to enter the school? I doubt the script's instructions said "With little-no urgency". Think "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory" (Gene Wilder) in the scenes where the kids are going to so something bad and Wonka goes, "Oh. no. stop. don't."
   
   Apart from the piano playing (and even malicious teen boys who are into Beethoven is NOT an original idea, hello, Clockwork Orange), the boys who bring the guns into the school at the end are such a cliche slightly less good looking than the other kids, dressed in military clothes, into Nazis ("Heavens to Betsy! They're watching videos of Hitler! They're EVIL, I just caught on!") and violent video games, homosexual tendencies (of course the homosexual kids HAVE to be the f***ed up outcasts, right?)...it wasn't even clear that they were being antagonized at school apart from a spitball being thrown at one of them at one point.
   
   Instead of, well, anything, we are subjected to watching the back of some kid's head to the soundtrack of Beethoven's ENTIRE "Moonlight Sonata" as he walks through his (very extensive) high school grounds. We are subjected to the same scene played repeatedly through "different perspectives". We are shown a bunch of clouds throughout Beethoven's "Fur Elise." Please.
   
   And let's not forget about the movie's "messages", which were about as subtle as a sledgehammer. Real art raises, and even answers questions. This movie just insulted my intelligence. Yes, guns are WAYYY to easy to obtain in the USA (although I don't think Van Sant did his research for the scene in "Elephant"). Yes, no one takes the time to KNOW these kids, and we'll never know the reason for this senseless tragedy. Yes, parents should be more present in their kids' lives. Yes, violence is awful and pointless. Oh yeah, and school shootings are X-tra baaaad.
   
   Gus Van Sant just took advantage of a subject people were sensitive about. Gus Van Sant capitalizes on real tragedy with this thing.
   
   It had nothing to say. It's just awful and possibly insulting for people who had to deal with these issues in real life, and not on some cushy, pretentious art-house movie set.… Expand

   • Helpful? 0 of 0 users said Yes.

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