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Halls of injustice
Scenes from an ordinary American high school are the backdrop for a school massacre story in Gus Van Sant's skilled but unsatisfying "Elephant."
By JOSHUA TANZER Offoffoff.com
"Elephant" carries the tag line "an ordinary high school day. Except that it's not." And that's the problem the movie is too mundane for its subject matter.
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| ELEPHANT |
Written and directed by: Gus Van Sant. Cast: Alex Frost, Eric Deulen, John Robinson, Elias McConnell, Jordan Taylor, Carrie Finklea, Nicole George, Larry Laverty, Brittany Mountain, Alicia Miles, Kristen Hicks, Bennie Dixon, Nathan Tyson, Timothy Bottoms, Matt Malloy, Elisa E. Williams, Jason Seitz, Elisa De La Motte, Sarah Bing.
Cinematography: Harris Savides.
Related links:
Official site
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| SCHEDULE |
Walter Reade Theater
Lincoln Center, 65th St. between Broadway and Amsterdam
(212) 875-5600
Fri. Oct. 10, 9:15 pm
Sat. Oct. 11, 12:30 pm
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| RELATED ARTICLES |
New York Film Festival 2003
Festival site
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Gus Van Sant ("Drugstore Cowboy," "My Own Private Idaho," "Good Will Hunting") puts us in the middle of an average high school to follow about a dozen of its teenage charges through their day. Two of them are planning to end the day by massacring as many of the rest as possible.
While other students are playing football, talking about boys or suffering uncomfortably through gym class, Alex (Alex Frost) is spending his lunch break scouting out the cafeteria and taking notes on a small notepad.
"What are you writing?" a girl asks him.
"Oh, this?" he says. "It's my plan."
"For what?" she asks.
"Oh, you'll see," he says. It's the kind of ambiguous response that Americans are gradually learning not to take lightly.
Why are Alex and his buddy Eric (Erid Deulen) plotting their terrible vengeance? Oh, maybe there are a few scattered hints, but the film doesn't really go into that. The pair get about the same quick, voyeuristic, detail-poor introduction that all the other characters do.
Van Sant has cast actual high school kids from his hometown, Portland, Oregon, and based their parts on their own experiences which leads to true performances but thin drama. These kids are all quite believable the aspiring photographer, the cute bulimic girls, the hunky football hero and his doting girlfriend, the anguished son of an alcoholic father but they are portrayed onscreen as shorthand versions of what we can only speculate are deeper human beings in reality. The same technique was used in this spring's "Raising Victor Vargas," with similar results.
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Cinematically, Van Sant has a lot of interesting stuff going on. While one or another of the teenagers is always front and center, people and places fade in and out of focus, giving the picture a slightly dreamlike quality. The sound does something similar sometimes many adolescent conversations converge into a generalized murmur, from which fragmented words and phrases pop out to hint at what's being said. There are playful uses of slow motion and interlocking stories detached from one another in time and perspective. It's a very engaging film experience if not a fully formed story.
As much as the school massacre phenomenon has become an obsession of American cultural observers because it seems to touch on something indefinable but disturbing at our core (besides Michael Moore's "Bowling for Columbine," there was this year's "Zero Day" and numerous plays including the following: 1, 2, 3), it's not clear what "Elephant" adds in terms of understanding the psyche of those involved. The scenes when the well-armed malcontents show up to carry out their plans are undeniably intense and troubling, but they haven't been given a very strong setup that would make sense of what we see.
Nonetheless, the film won top honors at this year's Cannes Film Festival, and it may look quite different to European eyes than to American ones. For some, in countries where it's rare for teenagers to drive cars, never mind own guns, it may provide a glimpse into an unfamiliar culture, and that may somehow fit the weapons-blazing conclusion in the European mind. But to Americans, the people we see are not exotic in the least they're exactly the people we went to school with, and we may even see them as abstract types rather than complex individuals. "Elephant" seems to float ethereally around our reality rather than dive in.
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OCTOBER 8, 2003 OFFOFFOFF.COM THE GUIDE TO ALTERNATIVE NEW YORK
Reader comments on Elephant:
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| | HI ALEX from Megan Saul, Nov. 10, 2003 |
| | | ALEX AND ERIC!!!!!!!!!!!!! from Madonna, May 9, 2004 |
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| | Elias McConnell from Ali, Nov. 11, 2003 |
| | | Re: Elias McConnell from kevin, Nov. 12, 2003 |
| | | | Elephant and that t-shirt from j.price, Nov. 14, 2003 |
| | | | | hottie...john robinson from steph k, Nov. 14, 2003 |
| | | | | | Re: hottie...john robinson from lise, Feb. 17, 2004 |
| | | | | | | Re: hottie...john robinson from samantha, May 18, 2004 |
| | | | | | | | Re: hottie...john robinson from , Nov. 25, 2004 |
| | | | | | | Re: hottie...john robinson from Amie A, June 11, 2004 |
| | | | | | | Re: hottie...john robinson from morgane, Nov. 25, 2004 |
| | | | | | | Re: hottie...john robinson from Sydney <3 John, May 3, 2006 |
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| | | | | | | Re: hottie...john robinson from ted, July 14, 2004 |
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| | | | | | | Re: hottie...john robinson from Michelle, Sept. 26, 2004 |
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| | | | | | | Re: HOTTIE...JOHN from JAYLYNNE, July 22, 2004 |
| | | | | | | | Re: HOTTIE...JOHN from ally, March 29, 2005 |
| | | | | | | Re: hottie...john robinson from JDM, Aug. 8, 2004 |
| | | | | | | | Re: hottie...john robinson from kj, Jan. 2, 2005 |
| | | | | | | | Re: hottie...john robinson from , April 10, 2005 |
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| | | | | Re: Elephant and that t-shirt from Keaton, Jan. 21, 2004 |
| | | | | Re: Elephant and that t-shirt from Manu, Feb. 6, 2004 |
| | | | | | Re: Elephant and that t-shirt from Elias T, Dec. 29, 2004 |
| | | | | | | Re: Elephant and that t-shirt from Jonas, Dec. 29, 2004 |
| | | | Re: Elias McConnell from Chelsea, May 24, 2004 |
| | | Re: Elias McConnell from Surya and Emiko, Nov. 19, 2003 |
| | | Re: Elias McConnell from mathilde, Nov. 21, 2003 |
| | | Re: Elias McConnell from maribeth, Aug. 11, 2004 |
| | | Elias McConnell's friend Ali from Amber, Sept. 18, 2004 |
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| | Elephant? Man..... from Dana, Nov. 16, 2003 |
| | | Re: Elephant? Man..... from , Nov. 17, 2003 |
| | | | Re: Elephant? Man..... from , Nov. 19, 2003 |
| | | Re: Elephant? Man..... from nicole, Nov. 19, 2003 |
| | | | Re: Elephant? Man..... from , Feb. 9, 2004 |
| | | Re: Elephant? Man..... from (ANNONYMOUS), Nov. 19, 2003 |
| | | Re: Elephant? Man..... from Ryan, Nov. 26, 2003 |
| | | | Michael Moore eats Elephant for breakfast from Bim, Feb. 17, 2004 |
| | | | | Re: Michael Moore eats Elephant for breakfast from Dan, Jan. 10, 2005 |
| | | | Re: Elephant? Man..... from , April 11, 2004 |
| | | Re: Elephant? Man..... from BoaRdyMeiSje, May 9, 2004 |
| | | | Re: Elephant? Man..... from emily, June 11, 2004 |
| | | | | Re: Elephant? Man..... from Mel, Jan. 27, 2005 |
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| | | Re: Elephant? Man..... from heidi, June 21, 2004 |
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| | | Re: Elephant? Man..... from , Nov. 24, 2004 |
| | | Re: Elephant? Man..... from Lilith, March 19, 2006 |
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| | looks really good &Eric Deulenis hot:) from kami, Nov. 19, 2003 |
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| | HOT HOT AND MORE HOTTIE-HOTNESS from EMIKO & surya, Nov. 19, 2003 |
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| | john Robinson a very good actor!!! from mathilde, Nov. 21, 2003 |
| | | Re: john Robinson a very good actor!!! from LAURE, Nov. 27, 2003 |
| | | jooooooooooooooooooooooooooohn!! from morgane, Nov. 25, 2004 |
| | | | Re: jooooooooooooooooooooooooooohn!! from hihi, Nov. 15, 2005 |
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| | john with his T-shirt from mathilde, Nov. 21, 2003 |
| | | Re: john with his T-shirt from samuel, Dec. 4, 2003 |
| | | Re: john with his T-shirt from jeanne, March 24, 2004 |
| | | | Re: john with his T-shirt from Maria, Aug. 12, 2004 |
| | | | | Re: john with his T-shirt from Tim, April 3, 2005 |
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| | Why " Elephant"? from Monica, Nov. 30, 2003 |
| | | Re: Why from manos, Dec. 11, 2003 |
| | | | Re: Why from ryan, Dec. 14, 2003 |
| | | | | REAL REASON BEHIND TITLE from Alex, Nov. 24, 2004 |
| | | | | | Re: REAL REASON BEHIND TITLE from Emily, Feb. 22, 2006 |
| | | | Re: Why from Tai, Nov. 24, 2004 |
| | | Re: Why from , Dec. 20, 2003 |
| | | | Re: Why from Anne, Jan. 14, 2004 |
| | | | | Re: Why from ilene, May 28, 2004 |
| | | | <~~MY VIEWS ON ELEPHANT~~> from >>>>AMI>>>, Sept. 17, 2004 |
| | | Re: Why from Kyle, Jan. 8, 2004 |
| | | | Re: Why from , Jan. 24, 2005 |
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| | eric deulen from , Dec. 3, 2003 |
| | | Re: eric deulen from BoaRdyMeiSje, May 9, 2004 |
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| | awsome from Jessy, Jan. 6, 2004 |
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| | Different Movie from YogB, Jan. 21, 2004 |
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| | unbeliveable from kamilla, Feb. 23, 2004 |
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| | it is a great movie and eli and alex hot from Tamsin, March 13, 2004 |
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| | You can't do the impossible. from Fortune, March 28, 2004 |
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| | i think John Robinson is amazing!.. lol from Ceyara Harvey, March 28, 2004 |
| | | Re: i think John Robinson is amazing!.. lol from , May 19, 2007 |
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| | read: from rebekca, May 1, 2004 |
| | | Re: read: from emily, May 8, 2004 |
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| | | Re: mouahahahahahahah..^^ from , July 30, 2004 |
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| | John Robinson is the hottest guy ever! from Kayla, June 14, 2004 |
| | | Re: John Robinson is the hottest guy ever! from amber, June 21, 2004 |
| | | Re: John Robinson is the hottest guy ever! from rosie, June 27, 2004 |
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| | You Can't Love John Robinson If You Don't Know H from Garfield, July 4, 2004 |
| | | Re: You Can't Love John Robinson If You Don't Kn from amber, July 26, 2004 |
| | | Re: You Can't Love John Robinson If You Don't Know H from , Nov. 24, 2004 |
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| | JOHN from Lana, July 5, 2004 |
| | | UNFORTUNATE FUTURE FOR JOHN from Alex, Nov. 24, 2004 |
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| | Worked With The cast The red head kid from Roman Ostrovsky, July 5, 2004 |
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| | WHOA from Sloane, Aug. 2, 2004 |
| | | Re: WHOA from amber, Aug. 2, 2004 |
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| | Elephant from Adrienne, Aug. 3, 2004 |
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| | the movie duh! from mariah, Aug. 14, 2004 |
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| | Amazing Movie!!! from Joel, Aug. 26, 2004 |
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| | watched this movie last night... from Josh, Aug. 30, 2004 |
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| | with many thanks to cast and crew from Zac, Aug. 31, 2004 |
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| | ALEX,ERIC,AND JOHN from Kristie, Sept. 6, 2004 |
| | | Re: ALEX,ERIC,AND JOHN from Tai, Nov. 24, 2004 |
| | | | Re: ALEX,ERIC,AND JOHN from Sandie, Aug. 2, 2006 |
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| | [no subject] from lanny, Sept. 25, 2004 |
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| | halls of injustice from lostSOULtee666, Nov. 24, 2004 |
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| | He stole my name. from John Robinson, Nov. 24, 2004 |
| | | Re: He stole my name. from alex, Nov. 24, 2004 |
| | | Re: He stole my name. from mikky, Nov. 25, 2004 |
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| | Acadia from alex, Nov. 24, 2004 |
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| | wow!! from lauren, Dec. 4, 2004 |
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| | John from haley, Dec. 7, 2004 |
| | | Re: John from Jessie, Dec. 15, 2004 |
| | | Re: John from morgane, Jan. 12, 2005 |
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| | [no subject] from Tinkerbell, Dec. 28, 2004 |
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| | Guy walking through corridors?? from pjrydo, April 19, 2005 |
| | | Re: Guy walking through corridors?? from mallory, April 28, 2005 |
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| | BOYS from TJ, May 15, 2005 |
| | | Re: BOYS from Sandie, Aug. 2, 2006 |
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| | ...elephant... from cora, May 24, 2005 |
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| | The movie was breathtaking from Whitney, July 1, 2005 |
| | | Re: The movie was breathtaking from willie, Oct. 11, 2005 |
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| | Elephant from willlie, Oct. 10, 2005 |
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| | john from willie, Oct. 11, 2005 |
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| | [no subject] from rdog, Dec. 10, 2005 |
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| | [no subject] from , Jan. 14, 2006 |
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| | wow from erin, Feb. 4, 2006 |
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| | BEST film I´ve ever seen from Lilith, March 19, 2006 |
| | | Re: BEST film I´ve ever seen from not_on, April 18, 2006 |
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| | i loved it!!!! from Hailey, March 22, 2006 |
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| | GRRR.... from sydney<3JohnRobinson, May 3, 2006 |
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| | "Elephant" promises much, but delivers little from Onikaze, May 19, 2006 |
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| | SEXY!!!! from hannah, July 20, 2006 |
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| | Hey this is for ALEX FROST from Jessica Hays, Aug. 2, 2006 |
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| | To the one who posted the review... from Ligaya, Aug. 23, 2006 |
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| | whata from idkwhat, Sept. 19, 2006 |
| | | Re: whata from DAmn u, Feb. 13, 2007 |
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