Chapter 513 Campus Incident
Gus Van Sant is a director with a unique style and has been studying the language of the lens. His interest is not in showing off his skills, but in extending the length of the lens to present the character. and the state of the scene, using the camera lens to capture time.
Just last year, Gus, Matt Damon and Casey Affleck spent ten days shooting an experimental film, "Jerry"——< br>
The whole movie only has fifty shots, which is very concise compared with other movies that have thousands of shots. From the beginning to the end, it is just Matt and Cassie walking in the desert, chatting while walking. , self-exploration and analysis in a minimalist way.
Released at the beginning of this year, it is undoubtedly a unique attempt.
From such a project, we can see Gus's exploration of film; in the field of American independent films, Gus is undoubtedly a well-known name.
As early as 1989, "Psychedelic Cowherd" made Gus famous; in 1991, he collaborated with River-Phoenix and Keanu Reeves to film "My Private Idaho" established his place in the film industry and proved his unique charm as a director.
"Good Will Hunting" in 1997 and "Milk" in 2008 earned Gus two Oscar nominations for Best Picture and Best Director, reaching the pinnacle of his career.
Overall, Gus is a director who believes in the lens and is passionate about the lens. He especially likes to use the camera lens to capture the collision between actors and characters, so the actors in his lens can always provide charming The acting and the charm of the actors even outweigh the movie itself to a certain extent.
However, Gus himself has a very strong temperament of staying away from the mainstream attention and being indifferent to fame and fortune. He has never directed any commercial movies. The excellent box office performance of "Good Will Hunting" is more like a beautiful accident, and even more He spends a lot of time concentrating on writing scripts and studying movies, which makes people unfamiliar with Gus as a director.
When people think of "My Private Idaho", they think of River Phoenix; when people think of "Good Will Hunting," people think of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, but if you are not a movie fan, you probably won't remember it. Kicks.
So Darren asked.
"Do you know a director named Gus Van Sant?"
The smile on Anson's lips rose, "Of course. When I watched 'Jerry' in the theater at the beginning of the year, I was directly in I fell asleep in the screening room and almost caught a cold. How could I forget?”
In the first half of the sentence, Darren thought that Anson was going to compliment Gus, and was surprised; in the second half of the sentence, the painting style. He turned to an unknown territory and couldn't hold it back, Darren laughed out loud.
"Haha, you can talk to Gus about it. Honestly, I haven't seen that movie. God, what were Cassie and Matt thinking."
Casey Affleck, Ben Affleck’s younger brother is also Gus’ next-door neighbor, plus Matt Damon, they all play together every day——
The project “Jerry” is Gus’s next-door neighbor. Si was inspired by the long-lens master Bela-Tarr's seven-and-a-half-hour work "Satan's Tango," and sat down with his neighbor Cassie to discuss it.
“How does a boy become a man.” Anson answered Darren’s question seriously.
Darren:? ? ? "Huh?"
After a moment's delay, Darren realized what was going on and couldn't help laughing. "Kid, you and Gus should be able to hit it off right away."
After saying that, Darren laughed directly.
"This is a good thing."
"The thing is like this, you still remember the year before last - no, the year before that - wow, 1999 has been so long ago? Time? So fast, anyway, Columbine in 1999?”
Remember, how could you forget?
Even if Anson is a time-traveled soul, he heard the news on the other side of the Pacific in his previous life, a school gun violence case that shocked the world. On April 20, 1999, a school shooting occurred at Columbine High School in a suburb of Denver, Colorado.
Two teenage students entered the campus armed with firearms and explosives. After failing to detonate the bombs, they opened fire with guns, killing twelve students and a teacher, and injuring another Twenty-five people were injured, and two died by suicide.
This incident was regarded as the bloodiest and most violent school shooting in North American history until the Virginia Tech incident broke out in 2007.
The incident caused a moral panic in the entire society, and aroused people's attention to many issues such as marginalized people in society, school violence, youth depression, violent movies, violent games, religious beliefs, etc.
Until 2002, the discussion surrounding the incident still did not subside.
To be precise, not long ago, a documentary called "Columbine Campus Incident" appeared at the Cannes Film Festival, once again attracting full attention. After the film won the 55th Anniversary Award, it also Landed in North America for a full release.
Discussions about violence and life should never be ignored.
Wait, Columbine High, Gus Van Sant?
The keywords collided, and Anson immediately thought of a movie——
"Elephant" won the Palme d'Or at the 56th Cannes Film Festival.
"Elephant" is a very special work, and it is Gus's exploration of film language. The film records a daily life in an ordinary middle school in a pseudo-documentary way, no matter how ordinary or simple it is. A peaceful day-to-day life, and then brutally destroying everything with gun violence in the last twenty minutes of the movie.
In the movie, Gus' directorial perspective is calm and even detached. He does not analyze, express or condemn from any angle, and presents the turbulent undercurrent beneath the calm in an almost cold-blooded manner. However, the depression, restlessness, and madness between the characters and the environment are vividly displayed, creating a chilling impact.
In the first half, Gus uses trivial and delicate line drawing techniques to create ordinary and vivid images of students, treating them as human beings; in the last part, Gus uses an unreasonable attitude to Everyone was crushed to pieces, coldly and cruelly, not treating people as human beings. Such contrast and impact perfectly displayed the cruelty and bloodshed flowing in the image.
A masterpiece without a doubt.
People's impressions of Gus have always been about the loneliness and confusion in "Unruly Skies" and the tenderness and inspiration in "Good Will Hunting". However, Gus has thrown out "Elephant" in an understatement, completely subverting all imaginations.
However, if Anson remembers correctly, Gus used an all-amateur crew to shoot this movie, and all the characters in the movie are not actors, just ordinary students——
Otherwise, if Gus needs it, Matt Damon or the Affleck brothers are all a matter of one sentence, and he doesn't need to worry about actors at all.
Don’t even need Darren’s help.
Did Anson guess wrong and the project Darren was discussing was not "Elephant"?
Anson did not rush to the conclusion, remained patient, and followed Darren's words, "Of course, so Gus is planning to make a movie about Columbine?"
Darren didn't either. Let’s continue to talk about it and get to the point directly.
“Yes.”
So, it is indeed an “elephant”?
(End of this chapter)