Directed by Gus Van Sant
United States • 2003 • 81 mins.
Winner of the Palme d ‘Or and Best Director awards at the Cannes Film Festival, Van Sant drew inspiration for his key protagonists from the real-life Columbine High School tragedy. Rather than attempting to offer easy explanations, Van Sant creates a highly stylized evocation of a day in the life of a “normal” American high school, conveying a surface that in its very universality provides a telling portrait of an undercurrent of complexity and unease untied to specific events. Long, rhythmic takes and tracking shots subliminally map a topography in the viewer’s mind that is later revisited by the student killers.
Genres: Drama
Appears in: Essential Gus Van Sant (& His Influences)