ELEPHANT

Fascinating, exquisitely directed, eerie, neo-realistic look at a day in the life of high school students and workers who become victim to a horrible event. I finally watched this last night, and was 'tres' disturbed by it all night long.

Told in a nonlinear narrative, there are no main characters, the characters are non-actors, the feel extraordinarily appeals to base emotions. In fact, it was one of the most suspenseful films I've seen in some time.

Van Zant used extremely long tracking shots to follow students through their high school day. For some it may seem as though it's going nowhere, until the obviousness of the nonlinear narrative is revealed.

But going nowhere is what Van Zant wants us to feel. In any normal day, humans walk through the tedium of their lives. We carry out our responsibilities, we interact with people along the way, we play out the mundane duties of our day. None of us can know what or when something will drastically change, and even less so with high school students caught up in the inexperience of the world.

We are not treated to 'the Hollywood Style;' there is no background music overlaid to 'tell us' when to feel, there are no shocking scenes to drive the story, there is no deep character development to lock us into one person or another. It's simply a day in the life, when something goes terribly wrong.

I cannot say it is without flaws. There are three specific scenarios that seemed somewhat out of place, but they didn't detract enough from the overall mood of the film to over-shadow it's intent.

I would highly recommend this film, but be prepared to allow yourself to be taken on it's ride, rather than expecting it to take you somewhere on your terms or timeline.

Caat