Bill Chance

Gerry - the new Gus Van Sant movie. I saw it this weekend and really liked it - though I think I might be the only person that will.

There weren't many folks in the theater, about half walked out before the movie ended and from what I overheard as we were leaving - most of those that stayed wished they hadn't.

It's a challenge, I admit - but I thought it was interesting. Then again, I like the desert and am tired of conventional films... which Gerry certainly isn't.

Wondered if anybody else saw it and if everybody that did hated it.

Bill Chance
The Daily Epiphany

NiCK Crush

ive wanted to check it out but i cant find a theater that is showing it

glad you liked it though, it hasnt been getting the best reviews... but im still really interested in it for some reason

badger1997

I felt like it was a great idea as a film project, but that as a movie, it just kinda fell short. Not very interesting to me and I really wish I had used my money to see something else. I usually like Gus Van Sant and I like the actors too, but it was just too unconventional for me. Everybody involves deserves an A for effort, but I just wish the end results would have turned out better.

Jackskeleton

Snooze fest. I have to ask.. why make a film about walking in the desert and actually show every foot step. it got old and fast.

sundog

I enjoyed it, but that's because I immensely enjoy the filmmakers Van Sant is aping. He was right to thank Bela Tarr explicitly in the credits. There are numerous shots pulled from his films.

Unfortunately Van Sant's vistas do little beyond overwhelm the two wandering through them. Affleck and Damon are watchable enough with some good lines. The problem is that he shifts from the exterior to the interior of the characters, slightly abandoning his removed and omniscient camera to ilicit some kind of identification to them.

But still, it's a beautifully rendered movie. And seeing it in the theater is essential.

pro-bassoonist

I haven't but will be seeing it.....and will DEFINITELY be getting the DVD when it comes out!

how was the soundtrack?

ps.
On a side note ....not exactly the same but....check WINGED MIGRATION......the trailer is available at apple.com

Pants

Here's another threadhttp://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthr...ighlight=Gerry

And my reaction:

I saw it last month and it is exactly what Grimfarrow says; Van Sant apeing Bela Tarr, Kiarastomi, and Tarkovsky. While it's a shame he can't do his own thing, it is still a fascinating film to watch.

In reguards to some of the questions, there is no sepia printing except in a delusional flashback that lasts about 45 seconds (all of which is shown in the trailer), there is maybe a total of 2 minutes of time-laps stuff, and one time laps shot is incredible.

All in all, like Solaris remade, this film has no audience. Matt Damon fans and casual film fans will be so off-put by this they will think it's a joke, and Bella Tarr/Kirastomi/art film fans will think it's a watered down 90 minute distillation of what they like in their 3-10 hour epic art movies. It's stuck in the middle.

Yet despite saying all that, it is worth seeing once.

Bill Chance

I thought I'd throw in one more item about Gerry that I haven't heard discussed very often.

I was interested in seeing the film because the "plot" (such as it is) was very similar to some fiction writing that I was working on. My writing was inspired by a true story about two guys that went hiking in Carlsbad Caverns National Monument.



Despite the change in location this is so similar to Gerry that it undoubtably served as inspiration.

For what it's worth....

Bill Chance
The Daily Epiphany

Pants

Welcome to the forum.

Are you claiming they plagerized you?

Bill Chance

Oh, no... not at all.

What I wrote is still in rough draft and I wanted to make sure what I wrote wasn't too similar to the film. It isn't - my stuff is much more concerned with what happened before and after the walk in the desert. I'm not sure if I'll finish it or tear it apart and use certain scenes in other work.

It was interesting for me to see how somebody else would interpret a real event - imagine it as fiction - differently than me.

Bill Chance

The Daily Epiphany

Corvin

There isn't much to plagerize, anyway. All they did was walk in the desert.

"You pulled a Gerry."

"No, shuddup, you pulled a Gerry."

Boring.

Pants

Yeah you're right dialogue is the only thing in a script

Jnuke

I enjoyed the film quite alot, though I wouldn't recommend it to anyone unless I knew for sure they had a tolerance for slow pacing. It was almost like going for a real hike; my mind would wander for a bit occasionally and then drift back in and the same great scenery would still be there and it almost felt like that was the director's intention and it was a pretty cool cinema experience.

lesterlong

I think I'll pass. Why? Let's see I'm a film student. If I pulled off a movie like this I'd probably be ripped apart and never get into film school. However, people go to see it because Matt Damon is in it or because Van Sant (Psycho remake) directed it. Movies need to be more.