Gerry

aclockworkjj · November 28, 2003, 12:10:48 AM

you know...this was my nightly choice, and i can't think of a better movie i have seen this year (i haven't seen all that much though). Finally, a movie that knows when to just shut up. The dialogue was there when needed..."fuck the thing". We don't need to know what "the thing" is. Besides the obvious unreal landscape and time-lapse shots...this movie had me in a trance. When they are shuffling through the desert (still healthy and on a pace), the sound of the footsteps almost had me bouncing along with them as they moved. This was a outstanding film on almost every level...

I really don't even know what kinda other nonesense i can rammble off about this...as i am still in utter awe. wow.

shit....just look (the picture sums up the movie i feel):

soixante · November 28, 2003, 01:41:06 PM

Gerry was indeed a pleasant surprise. I didn't know what to expect. I enjoyed the near-lack of dialogue. I really got a sense of being lost in the middle of nowhere.

aclockworkjj · November 29, 2003, 01:51:04 AM

one thing i think is overlooked in the maroon scene. the dailogue is fuckin' brillant. "oh, my bad."...."that's not the place, the place is like a half a mile that way." besides the humor in the scene, the dialogue between the 2 is perfect in my mind. even when damon gets up there....there are a few laughs, a few "ummms"....i dunno, it just was real in it's purest sense. this movie still has me in awe.

Pubrick · November 29, 2003, 02:14:56 AM

i don't think it's overlooked. nearly everyone has talked about how funny and well done it is.

aclockworkjj · November 29, 2003, 02:27:01 AM

Quote from: Pi don't think it's overlooked. nearly everyone has talked about how funny and well done it is.

sorry, i just ment in general....that the handful that saw it here. hardly anyone knows about this film...and they damn well should. it's briliant.

Jake_82 · November 30, 2003, 12:13:49 AM

I just got Netflix last week, and I added this as one of my first three movies... I'd been dying to see it since before it came out in theaters, but missed every chance until now. At the university in my town, there are several buildings left unlocked during the weekend, all with classrooms heralding projectors and dvd players, so the local teens always walk in and watch movies there on the weekend.

I went with my friend to show her Magnolia and The Virgin Suicides, two films I had been meaning to make her watch for a long time... but unfortunately we didn't have time for Magnolia... so instead I plugged in Gerry, which she'd seen before and disliked, but wanted to watch it with me to see my reaction... about half way through, she had to leave, so just about when the characters begin their desparation, I found myself alone in an enormous classroom with nothing but surround sound wind blowing from all around me and the light of the projector... I've never seen a movie in a theatre (not that it was one, but close enough) alone before this, and watching Gerry that way made the experience very interesting.

The film was incredible, I really wish the DVD had some behind the scenes stuff because I want to know exactly how they put this film together.

By the way, does anyone know where I can find the music?

mutinyco · December 01, 2003, 12:26:22 PM

Gerry kind of slipped through the cracks. Van Sant had no indie rep going into making it -- he'd been focussing on more mainstream fare for about half a dozen years. He simply wasn't on anybody's radar. Also, the movie isn't for everybody. It's quite antithetical to what most people expect nowadays. But between this and Elephant, which retraced some similar steps, Gus Van Sant was the director of the year. It'll be interesting to see where he goes next.

SHAFTR · December 04, 2003, 03:45:30 PM

I just saw this after reading all the praise on here. I must say I was disappointed. It seems like a love/hate film but I still fall in the middle.

There are many great, great things in it. The cinematography is top notch. The use of telephoto lens to flatten the images. The way tricks are played on the viewer by showing the landscape and than the characters walk in, disorienting the viewer b/c we see how small they really are, how insignificant.

My problem, and this was a huge problem, with the film was duration. I, for the most part, love duration and pretty much agree with Bazin. The problem with this film is duration was either a) over used or b) used improperly.

A shot that goes longer than we expect is extremely powerful. A shot that goes for 4-7 minutes is extremely boring. It is a delicate line and I think a 1-2 minute shot would have had the same power and allowed the film to take it's hold. The other problem is that since the entire film is all about duration, scenes that should hold more weight or are more important aren't because they are unable to be underlined by duration.

I'm a Van Sant and Damon fan but this film just didn't live up to the xixax praise. This has happened before (Buffalo 66 anyone?). I can't help but films have used duration in similiar circumstances much more efficiently and are much more powerful (L'Avventura).

Top 10 on my list for the year, definitely not. It was interesting, but I'm not even sure I would recommend it to anyone.

Weak2ndAct · December 12, 2003, 07:58:23 PM

After missing it in the theatre, I finally caught this on dvd. I loved Elephant, so I was very much looking forward to the movie... and boy, was I in for the shock of my life. Quite simply, I hated it. Sure, Savides' photography is wonderful, but so what? I'm all for minimalism and obscurity, but there was too little to go with here. And I couldn't help laugh at the 'written by' credit at the end.

Ernie · December 12, 2003, 09:52:49 PM

Quote from: Weak2ndActAfter missing it in the theatre, I finally caught this on dvd. I loved Elephant, so I was very much looking forward to the movie... and boy, was I in for the shock of my life. Quite simply, I hated it. Sure, Savides' photography is wonderful, but so what? I'm all for minimalism and obscurity, but there was too little to go with here. And I couldn't help laugh at the 'written by' credit at the end.

Completely agreed. I was so un-compelled by this film, I haven't even been intrigued to bash it in a review since I saw it like 2 weeks ago. And this is coming from a big Van Sant fan so it hurts even more to admit my hatred for it. Idaho and Drugstore Cowboy are and forever will be classics, Good Will Hunting is a good film - nothing more, Elephant is going to be awesome, To Die For was decent the first time - I really really want to see it again....but Gerry and Finding Forrester, those are the two I'll forget ever happened thanks.

(oh yea, as for his Pyscho remake, I'm completely indifferent about actually seeing it but I've always admired his bravery in making it the way he did)

Pubrick · December 13, 2003, 12:01:21 AM

that's a shame, i thought it was quite great.

neither of u found the dialogue and situations funny?

Weak2ndAct · December 13, 2003, 02:24:53 AM

Quote from: Pneither of u found the dialogue and situations funny?

What is this... 'dialogue' you speak of?

I almost cracked a smile during the 3 or so actual conversations (that's a stretch itself to even call them that) during the movie. It just didn't do it for me. The 2nd half was especially tiresome IMHO. Sure, maybe that's what Van Sant intended, but it just didn't do it for me. I'll still be curious to see what the guy does next.

For me, Van Sant is extremely hit or miss.
Love: Drugstore Cowboy, My Own Private Idaho, Good Will Hunting, To Die For, Elephant
Hate: Mala Noche, Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, Psycho, Finding Forrester, Gerry

I guess he's like 50/50 to me.

godardian · December 16, 2003, 02:13:46 AM

Just saw this for the first time today.

I thought it was great. Kubrick's camera meets Waiting for Godot as conceived by Antonioni. I'm going to buy a copy. With this and Elephant, van Sant has more than made up for Finding Forrester.

Did anyone else notice that most of the music used in Gerry was also very prominent in Heaven? And I mean exactly the same recordings and everything? Worked well for both, really beautiful stuff. Guess Tykwer stole from van Sant and not the other way around, since apparently Gerry is from 2001 (it got just a really weird, fucked-up, belated release, though... I had to think for a while about which film came first, and I'm still not 100% certain). The music in Gerry that wasn't from Heaven sounded Eno-ish to me, but apparently it wasn't Eno.

Ghostboy · December 16, 2003, 02:25:02 AM

I'm guessing they were made right around the same time. Gerry premiered at Sundance in Jan. 2002. Heaven opened the following fall, but I'm pretty sure it had already been complete for about a year -- Miramax held off on it for a while after 9/11.

I'm glad almost everyone here likes it so much. I think (hope) it will end up being a pretty important film, in the historical sense, moreso than Elephant, which is inherently sort of dated (even though at the same time it really isn't at all). Hear that Criterion? Get the license to this and re-release it quick!

godardian · January 14, 2004, 06:27:22 PM

**SPOILER** (or fake spoiler, depending)

I have a friend who seems to believe that at the end of Gerry, Damon "kills" Affleck by strangling him.

I laughed and made fun of him, but then I thought: "Could I have been so fucking stupid as to have missed that?"

I thought that last bit of movement when they're lying there is that Affleck actually dies of starvation/dehydration/exhaustion, and Damon in his grief throws his body over his as a sort of physical comfort to himself/his dead friend.

Who is the retard, here? Me? Or my friend?