Elephant
Alex and Eric lead pretty normal lives. Alex plays the piano. He's got parents who seem to be nice and on speaking terms. He plays video games. Eric is the buddy. They seem to do many things together. As such, they're gay and they're outcasts. Oh yeah, they like guns too.

The day was starting off pretty normally in an Oregon high school. A couple is going to the doctor to see if the girl is pregnant. A boy was taking care of his drunk father. Teenage girls ate a salad and quickly threw it back up in the bathroom. A young photographer stops a couple to take some pictures. An insecure girl is shelving books in the library. Ah, normal times. Then with guns they've ordered through the mail, Alex and Eric walk onto campus with no fear in their eyes, quietly load up, walk into the library and start blasting away as if they're playing the very video game seen earlier in the film.

Wow, the film treats these students' lives with such nonchalance, you get a pit in your stomach when you see them pinned down one by one after getting to know them for the first hour. There's no concrete reason given for Alex and Eric's shootout. They didn't even seem to be mad at anything. It was a calm killing all around, but to us, it's all too shocking. The same way the students' deaths are treated indifferently, the gunfire and violence are as well, It's not glorified or dignified, it just continues as it had in the first hour, by just filming it and watching. And that's the message writer and director Gus Van Sant seems to be sending in this film. Van Sant's style is simple and excellent, giving us a voyeuristic view of students' daily lives, following behind them as if we were there. Also well done was the intersecting storylines where different cameras following different students will meet up and then go on to give us a sense of timing. So yes, it's senseless, it's a tad bloody, and it's pretty much pointless as it stands, but afterwards, you can't help but wonder how that could have happened in the first place and where it will happen next. It stands to start discussion, not to answer why.

Well, I guess not exactly pointless. As Alex reminds Eric before they begin, the most important thing is to have fun. 3.5 stars