Elephant (2003)

(Caution: this is one of those movies that its best not to read about before you see it. Not because there are major plot points to spoil or twists, but because you'll be more impressed by it if you discover it for yourself. So much as i'd love for you to read what i have to say about it, please come back afterwards!)

This film unfolds with the delicate beauty of a flower. Van Sant has made so much commercial rubbish of recent years (Finding Forrester, Psycho, Good Will Hunting), that you forget what a surprising, original artist he can be. The second most original project Van Sant has made, My Own Private Idaho, pales in comparison to the significance of Elephant. I haven't seen a movie in a long time where i've thought "this is an important film." This, at last, is an important subject for cinema.

You know you've seen an incredible film when while you're watching it you forget all the other movies you've ever seen, and say to yourself "ah, so THIS is cinema, i never knew!" And three days later you can't think about anything else.

The school in this film becomes a live universe. We follow one character around, spend some time with them, so we feel that what happens to them is happening to us, and we switch to someone else and spend some time with them. They all have names, they are all living breathing people. Through suggestion, Van Sant creates an atmosphere where we feel that this school is a living, breathing environment, a world unto itself, and we feel the separate humanity of each member of it. We feel Van Sant could just as well have chosen to follow any of the other thousand members of the school.

Twenty minutes into the film, one character heads out of the school and sees two boys with army gear on carrying big loaded bags. He asks them what they're doing, and one of them tells him: "Get the f**k out of here and don't come back. Some s**t's going down."

I've never seen such an original treatment of structure and style that serves the story. We follow each of these characters around the school in real time, so certain portions of each of their stories are given to us piece by piece. I won't say any more, and i don't want to spoil my memory of this beautiful film by putting it into any more words. Go out and see it. You'll never forget it.