Elephant (DVD)

...the scene extras. Visually, Elephant offers quite a lot to those interested in cinematography. Unusual scenes, clever camera angles and arty shots. But for the average filmgoer, there is nothing of substance there. The final scenes with the shootings are good, but it's not worth sitting through the hour of footage beforehand, as it adds no depth or emotion to the people we see being killed. Overall I wouldn't buy this film. But if you know someone ...

JaynieMo 11.04.2007 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Elephant (DVD)

I rented Elephant on the strength of a friend's recommendation to me, my appreciation of Gus Van Sant's work and my desire to watch something different. This was certainly what I got with Elephant, a film whose story is loosely based on the Columbine High School shootings. Elephant is not an ordinary film, and indeed the tagline suggests the same - "An ordinary high school day. Except that it's not." The film begins slowly, like the gathering calm ...
...as they go about the first half of their day. Throughout this first half of the film we are introduced to typical teen stereotypes. We have the over-snappy photographer, the geeky girl who works as a library assistant, the tall black basketball player, the popular guy and the popular girls. Then there are the two killers who, not surprisingly, like guns and violence. This is conveyed to us by shots of them playing violent video games, looking at ...

sphirst 24.03.2006 (02.04.2006) · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Elephant (DVD)

"Elephant" is a film loosely based on the Columbine American school shootings. As soon as you know this, plot wise you know the whole film. For this reason I can see why people might be disappointed in this Palm d'Or winner but I loved it. For me it's not about the story but the way a film's style can affect and move the audience. One of the critisms I've heard against this film is the lack of characterisation. How can you sympathise with characters ...
...this is exactly where the film stands out for me. In a voyeristic style we are introduced to several students as they go about an ordinary day of high school. 'Introduced' is the key word here as our snapshots into their day only ever leave us with clues as to who they are as characters. There's John whose father's a drunk, Eli studying photography, a bookish girl, a couple facing a pregnancy scare and three gossiping girlfriends. All are seemingly ...

kellinsk 22.06.2004 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Elephant (DVD)

I cannot remember where I first heard about this film, or what attracted me to it, but I remember thinking that I really wanted to see it. When I did get around to buying the DVD and watching it, I was not disappointed. The film starts with a long credit sequence, with the view just showing some telephone wires and fast moving clouds behind. I'm not sure if this has an imagery significance, but it means straight away you know it's going to be a fairly ...
...bad thing I will leave up to you to decide. This film shows very different pupils at an american high school going about a normal day, and shows how they bump into each other and their lives collide throughout that day (until you realise you are seeing the same section of time over and over from different people's perspectives you can be mistaken thinking that the same thing is happening over and over). I'm sure you know that this film is about ...

Pyrokeet 13.01.2006 (25.01.2006) · Read full review
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Review of Elephant (DVD)

This film really engages you. Most of the film is shot on steadycam which follows various carismatic students around a generic highschool. This shows a highschool masaccre without dramatising it at all and shows how emotionless the killers are about the whole thing, which makes it very realistic and relatable. The whole film is absolutely visually beautiful. There is a gay scene that is completely unnecessary which is dissapointing because other ...
...Some people i know found it slow, there are some long shots just of people walking through corridors. However i think this is a wonderful aspect of the film, you are put in the shoes of the students so when they are killed it means something to you. Also all the actors are real highschool kids and there was no script for the film, which could have been a disaster, but it actually adds a lot to the realism and they are all completely believeable. ...

oscarphoto 05.09.2005 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful
Review of Elephant (DVD)

Gus Van Sant chose not to use any actors in this film, instead casting high school students. He also made the disclaimer that it was not based on real events, but a hypothetical school shooting. Well don't whisper it too loudly, but it draws spooky paralells to the Columbine school massacre. Comlumbine prompted hours of dicsussion and debate as to what could lead a teenager to do such a thing. This film offered nothing in terms of motive and made ...
...This film is nothing more than the operatic comings and goings of students during a normal school day, with a brutal shooting tacked onto the end. To give it it's due, the shootings and ensuing melee was very well filmed and really captured the terror of this kind of scenario. This could have been so much more, but I was not sure what I was meant to feel about the whole event. Should we have sympathy for the two boys? Well we don't know, because ...

hotspur_blue 05.03.2006 · Read full review
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Review of Elephant (DVD)

I got this movie because I really wanted to know why people go on shooting sprees. I have only watched it once and i proberly will not watch it again. Its a really weirld film, it starts of by the veiwers getting to know each of the main characters, which is not that bad The thing that i do not understand is why the movie ends when it does, one of the teens on the shooting spree opens the door to where 2 teens are (they are boyfriend and girlfriend) ...

kim4owen 06.07.2006 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: not helpful
Review of Elephant (DVD)