I think Elephant was probably his best film, but barely got through Last Days. This one splits the difference. All are still preferable to Good Will Hunting.
― Eric H., Friday, 2 May 2008 17:20 (sixteen years ago) link
Need to see Mala Noche.
― Eric H., Friday, 2 May 2008 17:22 (sixteen years ago) link
Mala Noche is just Private Idaho w/out the greatness.
― Dr Morbius, Friday, 2 May 2008 17:32 (sixteen years ago) link
http://www.deadline.com/2010/11/starz-greenlights-drama-series-starring-kelsey-grammer-and-directed-by-gus-van-sant/
― dick roach (schlump), Friday, 19 November 2010 11:10 (thirteen years ago) link
has anyone seen restless? i really want to go see but like I hear you're not meant to
― the contemporary jazz guitar gettin mad liberated (schlump), Wednesday, 26 October 2011 14:08 (twelve years ago) link
i've sat through way too many gvs movies in order to realize i like the idea of this guy more than i like this guy's work.
― strongo hulkington's ghost dad, Wednesday, 26 October 2011 14:15 (twelve years ago) link
Well, you just need to watch "To Die For" again
― ste throkes (Ówen P.), Wednesday, 26 October 2011 23:27 (twelve years ago) link
I like all his movies a lot - that is, after long reflection, my pretty uncomplicated take on gus van sant
― pathos of the unwarranted encore (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Wednesday, 26 October 2011 23:30 (twelve years ago) link
nb I never saw good will hunting so I might not like that one.
― pathos of the unwarranted encore (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Wednesday, 26 October 2011 23:31 (twelve years ago) link
if you also like all of robin williams' movies a lot then oh boy just you wait
― the contemporary jazz guitar gettin mad liberated (schlump), Wednesday, 26 October 2011 23:32 (twelve years ago) link
restless trailer makes it look v bad
going to give this boss telly prog with which he's involved a go
― conrad, Wednesday, 26 October 2011 23:34 (twelve years ago) link
aero do you like apples
― unorthodox economic revenge (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, 26 October 2011 23:34 (twelve years ago) link
wrt restless, i cant imagine what drew him to the material. has anyone seen/liked it?
― The sham nation of Israel should be destroyed. (Princess TamTam), Wednesday, 26 October 2011 23:35 (twelve years ago) link
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."
― congratulations (n/a), Thursday, 27 October 2011 00:39 (twelve years ago) link
otm. and Milk was a deserved "crossover" hit.
― lumber up, limbaugh down (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 27 October 2011 00:41 (twelve years ago) link
I was kind of determined to see Restless anyway, but the critics have managed to put me off.
― Alba, Thursday, 27 October 2011 00:42 (twelve years ago) link
Every time I see that title I think of a rewrite of that Corrs hit.
― lumber up, limbaugh down (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 27 October 2011 00:43 (twelve years ago) link
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.
― Tower Feist (Eazy), Friday, 11 November 2011 15:26 (twelve years ago) link
― The sham nation of Israel should be destroyed. (Princess TamTam), Thursday, 27 October 2011 00:35 (2 months ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
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.
― quick brown fox triangle (schlump), Sunday, 22 January 2012 01:29 (twelve years ago) link
links on the late Harris Savides:
http://www.fandor.com/blog/daily-harris-savides-1957-2012
― cancer, kizz my hairy irish azz (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 11 October 2012 21:42 (eleven years ago) link
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
― helpless before THRILLARY (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 12 July 2016 19:02 (eight years ago) link
this universally panned one, unveiled
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQvC9V1eLsE
― The Hon. J. Piedmont Mumblethunder (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 24 August 2016 21:09 (eight years ago) link
Looks fine with the sound off.
― thrill of transgressin (Eazy), Wednesday, 24 August 2016 21:26 (eight years ago) link
GERRY, an ambitious American independent film, premiered 15 years ago and was/is genuinely different.— Vadim Rizov (@vrizov) July 7, 2017
― Supercreditor (Dr Morbius), Friday, 7 July 2017 21:08 (seven years ago) link
always liked that one tbh
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Saturday, 8 July 2017 15:11 (seven years ago) link
new movie DON'T WORRY, HE WON'T GET FAR ON FOOT out this year
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYWrgLTNKP4
― flappy bird, Tuesday, 16 January 2018 21:23 (six years ago) link
has Joaquin P been in any of his films since To Die For?
― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 16 January 2018 21:38 (six years ago) link
nope
just looked JP's wiki to make sure, and am fucking shocked he is only 43
― flappy bird, Tuesday, 16 January 2018 21:40 (six years ago) link
ok just watched the trailer, excellent use of John Lennon's "Isolation."
― flappy bird, Tuesday, 16 January 2018 22:12 (six years ago) link
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?
― Frederik B, Tuesday, 16 January 2018 22:35 (six years ago) link
did anyone see his new movie? I think it played here for a week tops
― flappy bird, Monday, 10 December 2018 20:14 (five years ago) link
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)?
― ( ͡☉ ͜ʖ ͡☉) (jim in vancouver), Monday, 10 December 2018 21:06 (five years ago) link
he does?
― flappy bird, Monday, 10 December 2018 21:48 (five years ago) link
ever see Mala Noche?
― a Mets fan who gave up on everything in the mid '80s (Dr Morbius), Monday, 10 December 2018 22:11 (five years ago) link
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...
― Frederik B, Tuesday, 11 December 2018 11:41 (five years ago) link
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.
― Your sweetie-pie-coo-coo I love ya (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 25 January 2019 14:08 (five years ago) link
I'd maybe swap Milk and Elephant's spots but otherwise, otm. Paranoid Park def the best of that run.
― resident hack (Simon H.), Friday, 25 January 2019 14:19 (five years ago) link
Gerry + Elephant is as good a one-two, one-year punch as any American director has managed in probably my lifetime.
― forrest drumpf (Eric H.), Friday, 25 January 2019 15:12 (five years ago) link
Elephant is his best
― . (Michael B), Friday, 25 January 2019 15:14 (five years ago) link
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.
― Your sweetie-pie-coo-coo I love ya (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 25 January 2019 15:21 (five years ago) link
pretty much exactly my experience, alfred. I've had a DVD of it for a while but never feel like revisiting it.
― flappy bird, Friday, 25 January 2019 17:05 (five years ago) link
Some things aren’t meant to be rewatched. In a good way. I don’t think I could bear it.
― Nerdstrom Poindexter, Friday, 25 January 2019 17:08 (five years ago) link
I've seen Elephant maybe 8 times. I've always found it utterly transfixing, despite the horror.
― circa1916, Friday, 25 January 2019 17:09 (five years ago) link
Haven’t seen since the theater but just extremely sad but certain details have really stuck with me.
― Nerdstrom Poindexter, Friday, 25 January 2019 17:09 (five years ago) link
It's my #1 from GVS
― circa1916, Friday, 25 January 2019 17:11 (five years ago) link
xp the image that has never left me is the CU of the first girl with her brains blown all over the library stacks
― flappy bird, Friday, 25 January 2019 17:15 (five years ago) link
never felt like i could deal with 'elephant' but loved 'paranoid park' and 'last days'
― na (NA), Friday, 25 January 2019 17:20 (five years ago) link
The look the one girl gives the two mean girls in the bathroom after she runs in is one of those for me.
― forrest drumpf (Eric H.), Friday, 25 January 2019 17:21 (five years ago) link
I think To Die For is his best, followed closely by Elephant. Never got the appeal of Idaho
― flamboyant goon tie included, Friday, 25 January 2019 17:49 (five years ago) link