#27 - Gerry

Directed by Gus Van Sant
2002 Drama
Rated R

** 1/2

Gus Van Sant's Gerry, the first in his recent string of experimental docu-drama's (followed by Elephant, Last Days, and the upcoming Paranoid Park) about outbursts of violence in seemingly normal situations, has many of the problems associated with a director experimenting with a new style. The film (which is largely improvised by its two stars, Matt Damon and Casey Affleck) follows to friends, both named "Gerry," who get lost on a hiking trip, and their struggle to survive in the unforgiving terrain of the southwest. Gerry suffers from the thing that made the later films great; minutia. The brilliance of Elephant and Last Days wasn't so much the story, or where the story was going, but the little things that pushed the story along. Here, despite the best efforts of the leads (and pretty much only actors in the film), Van Sant is too determined in letting the story play itself out. Thus the minutia (seemingly pointless conversations, long walks, etc.) make the film more boring than anything else. Still worth seeing for fans of the director.