Gerry Reviews

Poetry In Slllooowww Motion

I have always been of the opinion that slow doesn't always have to mean boring. Judgement At Nurmeberg, Dances With Wolves, JFK, are all excellent examples of slow-burning, thought provoking film making at its best.

The main problem with Gerry is not that it is slow, but rather that it is contradictory, and loses us, the viewers, at the pivotal moments.

Rather like the film, the storyline is simple. Two friends, Matt Damon and Casey Affleck, lose their car in the desert, and cannot find it. It may sound like not a lot happens, and not a lot does. But then, this is the beauty of the film.

It feels much longer than its length, and despite its simplicity, seems to require great concentration and attention. Lingering shots of desert, of changing skylines and stretches of rock, while possibly misplaced in other movies, only serve to support what is a calm and often solemn ambience.

But, what ruined it for me was this: After an hour and a half of blissful, thoughless, dreamy and poetic film, I was suddenly thrown a curveball. I had to think. And this, coming out of the blue, ruined what was otherwise a serene viewing experience. It was like someone suddenly watched the film float past and said 'Wait! We need an ending!'

Sadly, they should've chosen a little more wisely, as Gerry can only be ranked amongst the 'almosts'.

hard to review

I've never seen a movie quite like this one. As the description says, two friends get lost in Death Valley without provisions - er, and that's it.

The film succeeds brilliantly in stripping out anything unnecessary, and portraying the timeless space and beauty of the landscape. The friends start off assuming it will all turn out fine, then increasingly are in denial that it won't - but the interplay between them is convincingly spare and unscripted.

There is an appropriately unshowy and lyrical score from Arvo Part which reinforces the sense of isolation and solitude.

It's hard to recommend since it's so unlike any normal, run-of-the-mill movie - but if you're willing to immerse yourself in lingering ten-minute shots of a single person through 360 degrees, or two people walking across a desert with no dialogue, and forget it's a movie, there's a reality about the film which is compelling.

Certainly worth a look

Released a month prior to Gus Van Sant’s critically acclaimed Elephant, Gerry was given a limited cinema release and then consequently overshadowed by its successor.

However both films can be seen as return to form by a director whom at one point in his career had seemed to have been in lost in Hollywood to the same extent that his characters in Gerry are lost in the desert. Van Sant had appeared to have lost his way, making bland sentimental Hollywood fair such as Finding Forester and Good Will hunting, not to mention the laughable Psycho remake.

Gerry can be seen as the antithesis of his recent efforts, like Elephant, Gerry is not conventional film in any sense. It has a more poetic quality much like the films of Andrei Tarkovsky and Bella Tarr, with an aesthetic that focuses on the beauty and vastness of nature. Van Sant shoots the actors in way emphasises the hopeless desperation that they are feeling against such vast desolate landscapes.

The film also evokes Van Sants earlier work such as Drugstore Cowboy and in particular My Own private Idaho, with it s beautiful camerawork focusing on the world around the characters, the speed up imagery of clouds and the sky has become somewhat of a signature shot in many of his films.

Although not engaging as Elephant , it is certainly worth a look, as film that it certainly a bold step back on to the right path for the director.

Silent Beauty

'Gerry' (Gus Van Sant 2002) is what film making should be. It is what all aspiring film makers hope to one day create, and what film critics & theorists dream about... a stunning visual sound.

We forget in this day and age that, at it's most basic, Cinema is a visual art form, the origins of which can be traced back to the days of cavemen making shadow puppets on the walls of thier caves. Cinema is about the lyrical quality of images and of how those images transform viewers into participants rather than mere spectators.

With little to no use of dialogue, or sound, Van Sant was able to create a world within which the viewer gets lost in the roaring skys, catastrophic winds and the sullen beauty of the ravaged wonderland that is the human spirit.

Every shot is liquid perfection, sheer beauty, a delight to the eye, mind & soul.

Excellent work Gus!

Deceptively simple

I suspect this will be one that film students will be poring over decades from now. 'Gerry' doesn't really sound like much of a film - two guys wander around lost in a desert - but there is much more going on than the action. What that is though, is not made immediately clear.

It could be about our alienation from our environment, the inability of men to communicate, or maybe how men communicate on a much deeper level - who knows? All I can say is that 'Gerry' is funny, beautiful, amazingly realistic, disturbing and incredibly sloooow.

This is not one for those who like their films to move along at a blinding pace. Weirdly enough, the film and its sparse, though wonderfully improvised dialogue, reminded me a great deal of reality 'Big Brother' type shows. It is an examination of how people react under pressure and the reality isn't always as action-packed as other films might make us think. What all the long shots of walking achieve is to put us right in the shoes of the two characters in a way that is rarely done in cinema.

If you're of the patient type who enjoys good cinematography, give it a go, otherwise wait until the next Vin Diesel film comes out.

Two guys called Gerry drive into the desert. They leave their car to walk the rest of the way to see the 'thing'. They get lost. It should be the most boring film in the history of film making. And yet it is insanely compelling. Two guys lost in the deseert. No more story to it than that. No action. No suspence. Just the insane compulsion to keep watching these two guys and see what happens next. We are never even told what the 'thing' was. I have no idea why I enjoyed this but in a bizarrely weird way it is fascinating.

YOU'LL EITHER LOVE OR HATE THIS FILM

If you enjoy exploring different types of film you'll enjoy this. If you favourite film is Terminator, forget it.

Let us experiment

Mmmmh. I remember the storm of horrible reviews this film got when it came out in 2003. And not being a real hardcore Van Sant fan, I let it be at the time.

Then came the arty friends saying that it was the best film of the year, and that whoever doesn't think so is a buffoon.

Which means that I have to have my own opinion, because I like to argue.

So.

I don't love it and I don't hate it. Needless to say, the photography is stunning. And the film is beyond slow.

I appreciated its boldness in stripping fiction of its intoxicating power of boiling down reality to the 'evenful bits'.

Gerry definitely shows you that life unabridged is boring, even in extraordinary circumstances and stunning locations... And that is a very effective message for anyone who is a chronic escapist such as me.

However, I thought that the symbolism of the two Gerries, which I interpreted as being one person, was a little bit heavy handed. So much contemplation would have paid off if coupled with a slightly deeper metaphor or message...

Having said that, I thought that the 'boulder moment' (no spoilers, fear not) was actually quite telling in its irrationality.

As I said, I don't hate this film... but I didn't need to sit through two hours of intense nothingness to suss out such a trite message.

Having seen Elephant as well, I think this technique worked much better with that type of material.

Different but difficult viewing

One of the most 'arthouse' films I've ever seen, 'Gerry' walks the tightrope between artistic genius and unwatchable rubbish. Reportedly filmed with no plan, script or plot written, it's the story of two friends who get lost in the desert. What follows is an hour and a half of jaw-droppingly beautiful cinematography with little to no narrative or dialogue. Worth watching for the visually arresting camera shots alone, both Damon and Affleck put in excellant turns as Gerry and Gerry. Their few lines of dialogue are for the most part entertaining, but it's their physical acting that shines, brilliantly depicting the increasing desperation and despair that the pair sink into as their fate becomes more and more hopeless. In equal parts boring, stunning, pointless and profound.

While i own this movie and didn't rent it here, i feel the need to write a mini review because no-one else seems to like it! I understand it's not for everyone - the dialogue is sparse, and possibly improvise, and not a whole lot happens... Literally, two guys get lost, and that seems to be it. The appeal is something different.. this film is oddly hypnotic, and compulsive. The endless tracking shots are so calming, but at the same time a primal kind of terror is being built up by the characters hopeless predicament. The score is brilliant - very simple, meloncholy piano tunes which complement the film beautifully. This is like Gus Van Sant's sister movie to 'Elephant', similar in many respects... Taking overwhelmingly average joe's and putting them in an unusual situation. Also, the time lapse shots of clouds are back, which seems to be something of a signature for Van Sant. While this isn't a very convincing argument, and it certainly isnt going to appeal to many people, i'd urge to give it a go if it sounds like your kind of thing.