Wow! This is one slow moving picture! It's so slow that it makes "2001: A Space Odyssey" look like a Jerry Bruckheimer film! (Don't fret "Odyssey" fans, "2001" is my favorite film of all time!)
Of the three films mentioned, I have only seen this and "Gerry," so I cannot comment on "Elephant." But, I'd say Van Sant's use of slow, low-on-plot strategy is running 1 for 2. "Gerry" worked better for me because it captured the increasing plight of the two travelers.
("Gerry" SPOILER!) But, what made that film pay off was the haunting, beautifully made shot at the end. Panning across the desert and coming to rest on Matt Damon's face, we could see, at the end, what a terrible ordeal his character had been through. (End SPOILER)
I don't think Van Sant's style worked so well with Pitt's Cobain-esquire character here. I think that, if we had seen at least flashes of Pitt's character in better times, we would have gotten a better feel for how far he had fallen. It would have made the film more tragic and made us connect with him better. Without that perspective, we just see him fade away.
So, I am glad that Van Sant is around to make film more interesting. I just don't think his style works all of the time.
Of the three films mentioned, I have only seen this and "Gerry," so I cannot comment on "Elephant." But, I'd say Van Sant's use of slow, low-on-plot strategy is running 1 for 2. "Gerry" worked better for me because it captured the increasing plight of the two travelers.
("Gerry" SPOILER!) But, what made that film pay off was the haunting, beautifully made shot at the end. Panning across the desert and coming to rest on Matt Damon's face, we could see, at the end, what a terrible ordeal his character had been through. (End SPOILER)
I don't think Van Sant's style worked so well with Pitt's Cobain-esquire character here. I think that, if we had seen at least flashes of Pitt's character in better times, we would have gotten a better feel for how far he had fallen. It would have made the film more tragic and made us connect with him better. Without that perspective, we just see him fade away.
So, I am glad that Van Sant is around to make film more interesting. I just don't think his style works all of the time.