Elephant

Boone Hudgins · March 18, 2005

Maybe non-editors have always been imposed by the heavy, noisy machinery that looks like it belongs in a mill. Editors might try having a Steenbeck or Moviola, or a synchronizer, next to their computer to run a strip of film with broken sprockets through when somebody comes in telling them they need to use all 18 angles of that one explosion...

I'm getting more and more interested in what can be done in one shot. It seems like it would be nice for the cinematographer, too, because people could actually see that lighting you worked so hard on.

Michael Struthers · May 12, 2005

I just watched "Panic in the Streets" - an old Eila Kazan low-budgeter with Richard Widmark as a Military Doctor trying to stop an outbreak of plague. (and a great old-school villian turn by Jack Palance) but anyway, I was amazed at Kazan's one shot scenes. One shot - next! One shot - next! He was working hard in blocking, you could tell he came from the stage. At first it seemed so amateur, because I'm used to quick-cuitting, but then I thought it was damn cool....even if it was a result of a low-budget. He did all the work in his mind, and saved less for the editor.

Same with "Elephant". The first ten minutes I thought it was crap. Then as I got used to the laws of the film's universe (every film has them) I was mesmerized. I walked out the theater thinking Guz Van Sant really is an artist and is the only guy trying to rewrite the language of cinema. Gerry didn't work, but Van Sant is one guy that is swinging for the fences.

Beautiful.

Just writing about these films inspires me B)

Brad Grimmett · May 13, 2005

Gerry didn't work, but Van Sant is one guy that is swinging for the fences.

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I was with you until this line. I liked Gerry a lot, and if you follow the progression from Gerry to Elephant you can see where Elephant came from. It may be the story you don't like, because the film was shot in virtually the same way. I thought it was really brave to make a movie with that little dialogue and so few characters. You could really feel how alone they were out in the desert. And the film manages to be funny at times, which is really something considering the situation they're in.

Brad Grimmett · May 13, 2005

I never said I didn't like it. I thought it was a "Good" film.

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So you fell asleep watching it, yet you still say it's good? That makes perfect sense. :huh:

Ger Leonard · May 13, 2005

Van Sant has stated his admiration for Bela Tarr the hungarian director (very long takes, elaborately choreographed camera movement).. if you appreciated Elephant and/or Gerry (my favorite of the two) you really should check out Tarr.

Also worth noting is Alan Clarkes TV film Elephant which van sant openly admits as huge influence.

As far as structure is concerned and the many comments relating to "script courses" etc. as Chris Doyle, who shot van sants (misunderstood but rather academic) exploration of color v b/w photography in his shot by shot remake of Psycho, has said "its musicality: repetition, coherence, rhythm, structure. It's all about music. It's ideas translated into light. Its words as colors. Movies mean moving images and don't forget the image part. We've got this whole industry that's proliferating the idea of the word as the basis for filmaking - the word, the text, no, no no. Why does a film have to explain things to you? you don't expect explanations from a bus? or a glass of beer? why should we expect explanations?" (vertigo vol 2 no 8 sping/summer 2005)

That is not to say ignore dialogue rather to push this often jaded western industry to shake off its preconceptions and strictures, become reinvigorated by the possibilities of cinema and create works of art that move and enlighten our spirit, not cinema as escapist entertainment but a cinema that embraces life and all its contradictions.

It is no accident that the most provocative cinema is coming from the east, and i include eastern europe here.. these are countries fighting the colonisation of the american image/structure system and twisting it to make it sing in their own unique voice.. This is as its always been those who struggle find true freedom in themselves..