Elephant (DVD)

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Production Year: 2003 - Drama - Director: Gus Van Sant - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Alex Frost, Eric Deulen, John Robinson more

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Gus Van Sant's drifty, eloquent, and effortlessly poignant ELEPHANT is loosely based on the massacre at Columbine High School. (On April 20, 1999 in Littleton, Colorado two...
more...17-year-old boys fired semi-automatic weapons on their high school classmates, killing 13, injuring 25, and then taking their own lives.) Van Sant's film is set in Portland, Oregon and uses non-actors chosen from an open casting call of high school students. On a crisp, sunny Autumn day, with colourful leaves on the trees and puffy clouds drifting across blue skies, students arrive at school as usual. Eli takes photographs for his portfolio, John manages problems with his alcoholic father, Acadia attends a gay-lesbian meeting, Nate plays a game of tag football, and Michelle works in the library. Meanwhile, two outsiders, Eric and Alex, harbour hatred for their peers. Each of ELEPHANT's students have unique interests and personalities, and the film respectfully emphasises their individuality. It also demonstrates how school is an unpredictable blender where students' differences are constantly agitated. Harris Savides' excellent photography--shot in 1:33 aspect ratio, making the movie a cube in the centre of the screen--follows and floats, sometimes blurring and juxtaposing the light to achieve an ethereal mood; while Leslie Shatz's ambient sound design and a soundtrack of soft Beethoven piano music completes that feeling. The film is structured in brief overlapping chapters all taking place on the morning of the 11:35 A.M. attack.
ELEPHANT won the Palme D'Or and Best Director at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival.





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1-7 of 7 reviews of Elephant (DVD)   sort by: Usefulness | Product rating | Date
No power behind Elephant
Review of Elephant (DVD) by JaynieMo

Advantages: The last 15 minutes
Disadvantages: The rest of the flim

...few behind 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 ... Read review

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11.04.2007
Elephant feels empty
Review of Elephant (DVD) by sphirst

Advantages: thought provoking ending, hopeless reality of events
Disadvantages: poor acting, too many clichés and stereotypes, fragmented structure

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 ... Read review

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24.03.2006
(02.04.2006)
This Palm d'Or is NOT a bore!
Review of Elephant (DVD) by kellinsk

Advantages: distinctive film making, thoughtful approach to the subject
Disadvantages: a few stereotypical explanations for 'why kids go bad'

"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 ... Read review

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22.06.2004
Elephant
Review of Elephant (DVD) by Pyrokeet

Advantages: Though provoking, artsy, good cast
Disadvantages: short, empty, peculiar

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 ... Read review

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13.01.2006
(25.01.2006)
Elephant should be seen by everyone
Review of Elephant (DVD) by oscarphoto

Advantages: Mesmerising camera work and visuals
Disadvantages: There is one scene which is a terrible cliche.

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 than ... Read review

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05.09.2005
Guns and Games
Review of Elephant (DVD) by hotspur_blue

Advantages: Hypnotic soundtrack
Disadvantages: Slow and pointless

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 ... Read review

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05.03.2006
Wheres The Ending?
Review of Elephant (DVD) by kim4owen

Advantages: Ok
Disadvantages: Not Very Good

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 ... Read review

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06.07.2006

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Elephant [DVD] [2004] Elephant [DVD] [2004]
Elephant, the elegant and unsettling movie from Gus Van Sant (My Own Private Idaho,Good ... more
Will Hunting), depicts students at a high school
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£ 4.20 amazon dvd

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Elephant [DVD] [2004] Elephant [DVD] [2004]
Elephant, the elegant and unsettling movie from Gus Van Sant (My Own Private Idaho,Good ... more
Will Hunting), depicts students at a high school
before and during a harrowing, Columbine-style
shooting. The movie follows one young boy who
takes over the wheel f...
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Winner of the Palme d'Or and Best Director prizes at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival Gus ... more
Van Sant's realistic drama takes us inside an
American high school on one single  ordinary day
that very rapidly turns tragic...
£ 4.99 play.com (films)

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