Elephant...

So i decided to buy Elephant from Amazon and it was delivered yesterday, which meant i was able to watch the film last night. I've seen this film before as well as two of Gus Van Sant's other films, Paranoid Park and Last Days. For me, this was the best of the three films, i particularly like the way it experiments with video and sound, something that mainstream film doesn't usually drift into. The structure of this film is in a chronological order, although we see the film overlap at times due to the perspective and story of the different characters we see. I also enjoyed the long tracking and panning in the shot, which seems quite dream-like and surreal, these shots go on for long periods of time, which is not something we are used to in mainstream film, we expct quick and snappy cuts. The sound is particularly interesting in the film because there is a lot of overlapping with talking scenes and the music is often quite dream-like and surreal, matching the video footage perfectly. There are several shots throughout the film which clearly show it is independent, one particular shot which i wasn't too keen on was the car scene in the beginning, we see a father and son, who clearly have a rocky relationship, the camera sits on the edge of the bonnet as we see them having a conversaton whilst driving. I found myself noticing the camerawork in this scene, which i know should never happen for cameramen and editors. When watching the film for the first time it's a different experience to the second because in the first time, i found myself trying to piece things together, as we the audience is constantly changing from character to character. In the end, the brutal scenes of the high scool shooting create an intensely dramatic and emotional state of mind, which combined with the beautiful shots and sequences, create a "brilliant, disturbing, [and] stunning" film...