Gus Van Sant

I like all his movies a lot - that is, after long reflection, my pretty uncomplicated take on gus van sant

nb I never saw good will hunting so I might not like that one.

if you also like all of robin williams' movies a lot then oh boy just you wait

restless trailer makes it look v bad

going to give this boss telly prog with which he's involved a go

aero do you like apples

wrt restless, i cant imagine what drew him to the material. has anyone seen/liked it?

he's done some bad stuff but also a bunch of really good stuff. i appreciate his jumping from artier movies to more mainstream movies and back. i was really really into "paranoid park" (probably posted about it on the above-linked thread) and to a lesser extent "last days" but still haven't watched "elephant."

otm. and Milk was a deserved "crossover" hit.

I was kind of determined to see Restless anyway, but the critics have managed to put me off.

Every time I see that title I think of a rewrite of that Corrs hit.

YOU LEAVE ME RESTLESS

James Franco, on Restless and other recent Van Sant:

http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2011/11/10/the-star-crossed/

Also just read that VS directed the pilot episode of Boss.

wrt restless, i cant imagine what drew him to the material. has anyone seen/liked it?

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i just saw this & actually kinda really liked it? i think i would otm any critical takedown raised of it, because it's so cloying, almost entirely, in so many respects (overdone/cutesy/formulaic/sufjanwave) &c&c&c. & yet there are frequently parts that are quietly (rather than through the strength of the material), warmly affecting. there's a passage in which footage of the nagasaki a-bomb aftermath is accompanied by sensitive, sub-elliott smith, anonymous acoustic guitar musing, which does the work of going further than any absurdist criticism of what's terrible about touchy-feely modern teenage movies would feel compelled to go. & for all of that it was good. i feel like i ought to ps 'this movie is terrible', because it technically is, but that mattered less to me as its emotional charge deepened; as a film it kinda almost has the teenage naivete that teenagers in paranoid park are invested in (though is on another planet in terms of its accurate/thoughtful rendering of the teenagers), being so distant from a realism and so committed to a brief & romantic way of being.

i think it is meant as a young-adult thing for twilight fans, i guess, & there is something intriguing to me about GVS working in those confines.

links on the late Harris Savides:

http://www.fandor.com/blog/daily-harris-savides-1957-2012

I forgot how glowingly gutter-contrasty the b&w 16mm in Mala Noche. Also the chickenhawkish whiteboy clerk is preety plainly depicted as racist, tho he wouldn't cop to it (he bypassingly even mentions his "privilege" in 1984).

The teen who played his lust object was Native, not Mexican, and hence all his Spanish dialogue was dubbed.

My rewatch was inspired by this:

https://www.fandor.com/keyframe/the-modern-breakthrough-of-mala-noche-628

this universally panned one, unveiled

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQvC9V1eLsE

Looks fine with the sound off.

GERRY, an ambitious American independent film, premiered 15 years ago and was/is genuinely different.

— Vadim Rizov (@vrizov) July 7, 2017

always liked that one tbh

new movie DON'T WORRY, HE WON'T GET FAR ON FOOT out this year

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYWrgLTNKP4

has Joaquin P been in any of his films since To Die For?

nope

just looked JP's wiki to make sure, and am fucking shocked he is only 43

ok just watched the trailer, excellent use of John Lennon's "Isolation."

It's going to be at Berlin, and I'm going. So now I'm trying to catch up on his filmography.

Did anyone see what will probably be called the Logan Paul one henceforth?

did anyone see his new movie? I think it played here for a week tops

got ok reviews, looks middling but serviceable. maybe the studio (amazon) didn't back it because they're worried Van Sant would be me too'd soon ( he has a reputation)?

he does?

ever see Mala Noche?

I saw it at Berlin. There's a scene at an AA meeting where one character stands up and says how proud he is to have achieved mediocrity. Gus van Sant really seems to have taken that notion to heart...

Boy, he's not getting much American distribution anymore, is he?

Anyway, he peaked early. His smaller 2000s-era "experimental" films don't hold up well, but I admire his insistence on investing his Hollywood capital in'em.

I'd maybe swap Milk and Elephant's spots but otherwise, otm. Paranoid Park def the best of that run.

Gerry + Elephant is as good a one-two, one-year punch as any American director has managed in probably my lifetime.

Elephant is his best

I haven't seen Elephant since the Wednesday before Thanksgiving 2003, and it tends to live in my memory despite not thinking it was fully realized at the time.

pretty much exactly my experience, alfred. I've had a DVD of it for a while but never feel like revisiting it.

Some things aren’t meant to be rewatched. In a good way. I don’t think I could bear it.

I've seen Elephant maybe 8 times. I've always found it utterly transfixing, despite the horror.

Haven’t seen since the theater but just extremely sad but certain details have really stuck with me.

It's my #1 from GVS

xp the image that has never left me is the CU of the first girl with her brains blown all over the library stacks

never felt like i could deal with 'elephant' but loved 'paranoid park' and 'last days'

Haven’t seen since the theater but just extremely sad but certain details have really stuck with me.

The look the one girl gives the two mean girls in the bathroom after she runs in is one of those for me.

I think To Die For is his best, followed closely by Elephant. Never got the appeal of Idaho

Boys II Men scene in Last Days is so good.

I’m really interested in the fact that so many people can never revisit Elephant again while I’ve literally played it twice in a row on more than one night. The inevitable doom is crushing, but for whatever reason that dream take walk through that day with those kids makes it something beyond the ultimate tragedy. It’s a haunter that pierces some primal things for me.

circa1916 - I watched Elephant for the first time since 2003 per your post the other day. You're right, it's completely hypnotic, and less thoroughly terrifying. I could easily imagine watching it on a loop if it weren't for the shooting, which imo goes on too long, or takes up too much of the movie's time (forgot how short it is, only 80 minutes). But the kids are fantastic, excellent use of non actors and long, lingering takes. Many beautiful moments: closeup of the girl kissing Alex, the punk kids, everything with Michelle, Timothy Bottoms (!) as the dad at the end, the drawn out banal everyday trauma of an alcoholic parent faced with acute traumatic violence, him mildly putting his hand on his son's shoulder as they watch the school burn. also forgot about the Gerrycount game.

In 'c'mon folks, you could have also led with THIS too' news, the Ryan Murphy/FX publicity machine is doing everyone a disservice because I only just found out today that van Sant has directed the first four of eight episodes of Feud: Capote vs. the Swans, and maybe more too. You know, minor details!

Whaaaat

I know, right! Jesus Christ, way to bury the lead!

Finished both S5 of Fargo and E1 of the Capote series today; couldn't help noticing the similarity between Jennifer Jason Leigh's jailhouse speech in Fargo and Diane Lane's reaction to "La Côte Basque" in The Swans.