February 16th, 2004One of the film reviewers in a local paper had named Elephant the best film of the year, so I had high expectations going into it. I'm not sure if it was a disappointment for me, but it was definitely not what I expected. I knew that it was going to be about violence in schools, but the way it was made was very unconventional.
The film spends a hell of a lot of time establishing its characters. Van Sant really wanted to make sure his audience had a relationship with the students in the school before bringing the film to a climax. The actors, who were all just regular high school students, did an excellent job. It's a good thing too, because if they hadn't succeeded it could have been the downfall of the movie. Because of the realism of the acting, the over-long beginning of the movie doesn't seem so over-long. The movie actually had a firm grasp on my attetion throughout its durration. That's amazing considering that many of the shots were just tracking shots following kids around as they walked through the halls.
My problem with the movie was that the climax was weak compared to the beginning. Its basically just what you would expect. A lack of character development during the final portions makes the movie lose some of its weight. Van Sant does do a good job with the ending though. It's unexpected and quite poignant.
The only other problem I have with the movie is its title. Elephant. Yeah...an elephant in the corner of the room. I understand, but to me it sounds like someone's trying to hard.
For all the criticism I've given this movie, I must say that it is definitely worth seeing. In fact it was probably one of the ten best films of the year in my book. Heavy, but very good.
My rating: 7/10