barelylegal

Elephant. Good or bad? What's your appreciation?

Rainstorm Jenny

Whats it about?

mukooh

a columbine type of incident....told from a number of different points of view....an ok little film imo....i saw it in a theater when it was first released.....it's one of gus van sant's better films....

trailer here

barelylegal

what mukooh said.

Though I must say I truly liked that movie. All those camera angles were quite good.

Now, what do you think elephant means? Gus van Sant said something about violence always being recognized and so would be an elephant in a living room.

pacifierrocks

No, i didn't like it at all. I saw what he was trying to do with this film, but it just seemed straight boring to me. I love indie films, but i need people to speak. I don't really find it entertaining to watch people walk around everywhere. I tried so hard to like this movie, but i just couldn't.

Rainstorm Jenny

Thanks for the info mukooh, though it doesnt sound like a movie I would enjoy.

Twiggy

I thought it was clever the way it was done but i just didnt get it i was like "ok is that it" at the end. I apprciated it but it isnt an enjoyable movie and i wouldnt watch it again. I didnt hate it though. (weird)

UnsilentMajorty

The elephant in the title means "The Elephant in the room that people don't talk about".

In this instance, no one prior to Gus Van Sant had made a movie about Collumbine -- And it is about Collumbine; no two ways about it -- And that is very "odd" considering it is the "perfect" subject matter (it has teens; has violence; is set in high school; has interpersonal drama; etc.) for mainstream Hollywood to captilaize and profit off of.

It's one of those movies that you can only watch once because if you know it is about Collumbine... Then you can't view it as a work of fiction because the portrayl of the shooting (once it starts) is unforgiving.

I have visted Collumbine High School (post-shooting) in my travels and having been where all that murders occured -- the library; the outer paking lot where kids where falling out of the windows -- Is very sobering. It's like a WWII vet going back to the beaches of Normandy, or visiting the remains of the World Trade Center in New York. You literally get a chill down your spine even if it is sunny and 90 degrees out.

As far as a movie itself...

It's average. In fact, it's actually below average if we take away the accompanying baggage this movie brings along with it.

As others have said, there is almost no dialogue or backstory to the characters and that is something you actually need in a movie like this since you are going to put the characters through Hell -- ltierally -- At the end of the film and expect the audience to sympathize with them...

But you don't because you don't even know who these kids are, or why they are doing the things they do and I mean just the regular kids and not the two killers.

In addition, there is another movie called "Home Room" with Busy Philips that tackles the same subject matter, but is more of a low budget "who done it" versus a psuedo-documentary like "Elphant" is trying to be.

gotmilk

I really liked Elephant. There was just something about it that I really liked...and I thought his shots everything were really beautiful.

pacifierrocks

I liked the film "Home Room". It didn't really deal with the school shooting itself, but the aftermath of it. You got to really know the two main characters and they actually spoke.

~*Astaldoantoiel*~

i thought it was very well done actually

konstantine

I somewhat agree with you. I love indie film and though sometimes this movie did feel like it was dragging, I just could not press the fast forward button. I don't know if the movie would have the same effect if you just skipped all the beginning and the middle. It was an ordinary day, and then something completely extreme happens at the end. I was clutching onto the pillow in the final scene and I hit the stop button because that's how disturbed I was feeling. I couldn't watch. But I talked to someone who watched the film and said right where I hit stop was right where the film ended. The movie was done beautifully, that's for sure. I've heard of Home Room but I haven't seen it before. I might pick it up next time I'm at the video store.

earthangel72

I thought it was an amazing movie, after it finished i felt like i couldn't talk or move for a couple minutes. Like i had to give a moment of silence or something. And i loved how the violence wasn't glorified, there were not slow mo shots, or music playing, it made it seem so senseless, like it is in real life.




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ROCKSTAR EDITED: Elephant