Re: Gus Van Sant's Death Trilogy: Gerry, Elephant, Last Days
Posted: Sun Feb 22, 2015 7:45 am
Glad I discovered this thread. Coincidentally, I just recently re-watched all three of these films.
Elephant: Obviously based on the C. tragedy in 1999, this was an extremely tough film to get through. Showing the same events that led up to the tragedy (especially the moments right beforehand) from several different perspectives just made this even more unnerving....especially disturbing was when the kids walked up to the school in the camo outfits w/the bags & told that other kid to leave...quite chilling...
Last Days: Another film loosely 'based' on true events, in this case the "events" leading up to the death of Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain. Interesting film, though not a lot happened & there wasn't a lot of dialogue. Was most impressed by the outdoor scenery.... I was amused by the scene when the lead answered the door to a guy selling space for phone book ads - did people actually come by door to door & sell phone book space, even in 2004?! I would guess even by that time most of this type of business had shifted online...(though I guess the film was set in the '90's - maybe)...also found it funny when those twins came by & preached their religious beliefs....these guys must have had a lot of time and/or been really bored to let these sales people/preachers into their home...I never answer the door to these creeps...
Gerry: Another slow film, though did keep my interest - this is the only one of the three I saw in the theater. I thought it did a good job of creating an atmosphere of unease/desolation with the two guys wandering through the desert - there was one particular scene when they're walking right next to each other and, even though CA & MD don't look at all alike, during this sequence it was hard to distinguish one from the other, almost as if they were becoming one person... shades of of Bergman's Persona?!.....
Was somewhat confused by the ending -
Side-note about the film: I was puzzled why neither character thought to bring at least a 1-2 water bottles with them - they were walking quite a distance, and I would think this would be a no-brainer, since they would need water...but, I guess the film wasn't supposed to be logical, but was more about creating an atmosphere....
Elephant: Obviously based on the C. tragedy in 1999, this was an extremely tough film to get through. Showing the same events that led up to the tragedy (especially the moments right beforehand) from several different perspectives just made this even more unnerving....especially disturbing was when the kids walked up to the school in the camo outfits w/the bags & told that other kid to leave...quite chilling...
Last Days: Another film loosely 'based' on true events, in this case the "events" leading up to the death of Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain. Interesting film, though not a lot happened & there wasn't a lot of dialogue. Was most impressed by the outdoor scenery.... I was amused by the scene when the lead answered the door to a guy selling space for phone book ads - did people actually come by door to door & sell phone book space, even in 2004?! I would guess even by that time most of this type of business had shifted online...(though I guess the film was set in the '90's - maybe)...also found it funny when those twins came by & preached their religious beliefs....these guys must have had a lot of time and/or been really bored to let these sales people/preachers into their home...I never answer the door to these creeps...
Gerry: Another slow film, though did keep my interest - this is the only one of the three I saw in the theater. I thought it did a good job of creating an atmosphere of unease/desolation with the two guys wandering through the desert - there was one particular scene when they're walking right next to each other and, even though CA & MD don't look at all alike, during this sequence it was hard to distinguish one from the other, almost as if they were becoming one person... shades of of Bergman's Persona?!.....
Was somewhat confused by the ending -
Spoiler
did the MD character choke the CA character to death, or did he just dream that? He woke up & the CA character was dead (apparently died of dehydration/exhaustion), but it wasn't clear if he also dreamed the choking scene...