in the early 2000's Gus Van Sant is asked to make a movie inspired by the tragedy of Columbine, the last school-shooting which has just stunned America.
He has already shot 9 movies and has just released « Gerry », a radical and fascinating film which can now be regarded as the first volume of a trilogy devoted to American youth.
Gus Van Sant accepts the proposition but wonders how to shoot the movie and what form he should use.How can you report what life in an American high school really is ? How many characters are you going to focus on ? What period of time are you going to relate ?
He then remembers « Elephant » a 39-minute movie by Alan Clarke about violence in civil war ridden Northern Ireland (a must-see!). This is going to be his source of inspiration. Indeed, he considers that, in a way, American teens are confronted to daily violence (which causes are complex) just as Northern Irish were.
He thus chooses a radical solution : a short movie (81 mns), a dozen of characters mostly played by amateurs, a story unfolding on one day and the use of 1.37:1 ratio (square screen).
The camera litterally follows one character after another. It drifts, sometimes in slow motion, in a mesmerizing journey. It looks like a ballet and soon we get familiar with these teens, understand their problems, their untold phobias, desires.
The skill of Gus Van Sant is to render these moments natural whereas the filming, the style is as « artificial »as it can be.
The different scenes are like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, a maze in which we softly move. There is also a paradox : whereas they all share the same space and activities, whereas they are together, an impression of great solitude permeates the film. There is elegance and softness too...before the shock that we know is going to come and so we feel time is suspended and these people doomed.
Making much with very little is an art and Van Sant definitely an artist.
A great movie !