Written by: Gus Van Sant
Directed by: Gus Van Sant
Starring: Elias McConnell, Alex Frost, Eric Deulen
Rated: R
Plot
Ordinary high school students go through their daily routines as two of them prepare for something more malevolent.
Verdict
This is very much an indie movie. The camera floats through a school with a dream like quality as we see parts of the day for various teens. There isn't really a main character. We soon realize something ominous is about to happen, and it's tough to watch.
It's revenge for mistreatment, though obviously it can't be justified. What the perpetrators don't realize is that no one we see in the movie is well adjusted, all of these characters are tragic to a degree.
It depends.
Review
Non-actors were used for most of the main parts and the dialog was partially improvised. Most of the actors real first names are used as character names.
The camera floats in and out, following different high school students. It's a day in the life, but I was surprised at how early this introduces that a shooting will happen. Then again, if you're watching this movie you likely know what will follow.
Everything just kind of happens. It's very detached and unemotional as it moves from character to character. We see some events from different character's points of view. All of these characters thread into the same places, even occupying the same space at different points of the movie, where the camera will then follow someone else. It's a twisting narrative that isno't chronological, folding back on itself frequently. For most of the kids, it's just one single day, but we do go back a little further with Alex and Eric and see events preceding the day.
At one point I wondered if we saw the world through Alex and Eric's eyes. The camera, as they are, is relegated to the background and just observing with no connections.
None of the characters we see are fully adjusted. That's the trick of it, making people think you are. In some cases students single out others to buoy their own self esteem. That's what happened to Alex and Eric. They wanted power, power over those that tormented them.
This is full of connecting moments you don't normally see in a movie, the parts that would be cut. They are the parts that don't normally matter in a movie, but parts that seem to not matter are the focus here. We see Alex get bullied and can extrapolate, but we don't get answers as to what set them off or gave them this idea. While we see Eric playing a violent video game, I don't like the insinuation that it gave them the idea. The game he plays seems to be a result of his desire for revenge, not the inception of it. The game's sole purpose is to select different guns and shoot people, it isn't a typical video game and certainly isn't Grand Theft Auto, a game frequently blamed for violence in kids. I don't think the movie is insinuating games are bad, but it's easy to read it as that. I think the movie was just giving us an example of where Eric's mindset is and the path he's on.
These teens wanted a moment where they felt powerful. They didn't know how to make the bullying stop, and while the powerless finally have power, the consequences are tragic.
camera floats in and out, picking up different high schoolers, day in the life type thing. classical music plays. i'm surprised at how early this introduces what's happening then again, if you're watching this movie you know what happens. this is so detached, unemotional. it just happens, moving from character to character. seeing similar events from different view points. are we seeing the world through alex and eric's eyes? relegated to the background, just observing? it's so ominuous, so dream like. how all these peole thread into the same places, occupy the same space at certain points. no one is fully adjusted. and that's the trick of it, making peole think yo uyare, or singling out others to buoy your own low self esteem. a twisting narrative that isn't choronological, twisting and turning back on itself. for most of the kids this seems to be just one day, for alex and eric this goes back a little further. it's full of a lot of moments that you don't normally see in a movie. the parts that would be cut. get tehse human moments. we see alex is bullying and can extrapolate, but will we get an answer as to what set them off or gave them this idea? a moment where the powerless feel power, nearly an ultimate power, life and death.
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