Elephant

 

Elephant 2003

• Director: Gus van Sant
• Seen by this director: Don’t Worry He Won’t Get Far on Foot, Milk, Paris je t’aime, Good Will Hunting, My Own Private Idaho
• Based on the book: no
• Cast: Elias McConnell, Alex Frost, Eric Duelen, Carrie Flynn, Kristen Hicks, Nathan Tyson
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• None of them
• Why? The subject
• Seen:  13 March 2025 

            Almost like a documentary, the film follows individual American high school students around their school day. Long close-ups, long moments following them down the many school corridors from behind. Quiet teen angst, teen romance, teen identity confusion, teen bullying, teen BFFs puking in the girls’ lav after lunch, teen boys ordering automatic rifles from post order and watching documentaries on Hitler. Just a normal school day.

            Then the shooting begins. Students die. Teachers die.

            Reminiscent, though not officially based on, the Columbine shootings in Colorado in 1996, before school shootings became a thing, it’s a slow, quiet, powerful blow to the solar plexus. 

4* of 5