it was between elephant and lord of the rings, but i promised fee and tim that i would wait until they return from holiday to go see frodo so i ended up going to elephant. now i am a bit annoyed at my loyalty to my friends. seeing this movie reminds me of the time i went to go see “requiem for a dream” during the holiday season at a small art house theater by myself. i prompty renamed the movie “wrecking for a dream” because my head was a bit screwed afterwards. at least i can say for requiem that it is an excellent film and storyline.

elephant takes place in a small oregonian high school - obviously it is supposed to be a “fictional” account of the occurances of columbine high. it follows a number of students throughout their normal day at school with the events leading up to the violent ending. it is said that van sant did not cast professional actors in the movie opting to use locals instead. there is a bit of amateurish acting in the movie that makes me believe that is true.

the film work is interesting in the way that they cut up the timeline of the day and the various intersections break off into a new character study. there are long and slow shots that seem to be taken from the perspective of the character that we are following. at times there are subtle uses of music to emphasize a growing nervousness that you can feel throughout the movie. other times there is complete over(mis)use of music and imagery - such as a scene that plays beethovan’s fur elise in its entirety showing only the back of a kid at a piano.

my issue with this movie are a few things:

1. you felt no compassion or connection to any of the characters - i found myself wishing that someone would hurry up and kill them so i could go home.

2. perhaps the reason that i didn’t have compassion is that they reminded me of the people that i went to school with. as much as you wanted to feel sorry for the geeky girl, you had to admit that if you were in school you would’ve probably laughed at her as well.

3. why give credit to someone who stole someone’s real life tragedy and turned into into what they deem art?

4. was this supposed to shock anyone? the attempt to show how gun control laws suck in the states, the lack of parenting most kids have, how it sucks to be a teenager? i’m not that shocked! wake up and smell the coffee - this is the american way!

the entire film is completely overemphasised, self-indulgent bullshit created for masses of voyeurs who want to watch a first hand account of what happened that day at columbine and understand it. one point this movie does prove is that there is nothing deep to read into that day. it was a normal, boring day and two kids were crazy and pissed off. no point in trying to make sense of it by blaming media, marilyn, video games, parenting. there will always be crazy freaks in this world just as this movie will always be boring and pointless.

honestly, i hope that the people of columbine are outraged by this senseless endeavor to monetise on their suffering.

remind me next time to read the synopsis (in english) before i go to the movies by myself during the holiday season!