"I promised Fai to leave his sadness here, l didn't know what he said that night. The recorder seems to be broken, I can't hear anything but some strange noises which may be someone's sobbing."
Gus Van Sant on how he approached making "Elephant" (2003) & the scathing critical response it received:
"My film observes from multiple points of view several students who cross paths in the hallways of a suburban American school on a seemingly normal weekday that culminates in a massacre. The film may be provocative but it refuses to preach or to explain. It’s an approach that frustrates and even angers some of the audience.
The film’s refraining from giving answers drew reprobation from American film critics in Cannes, especially those from L.A. The scathing Variety review called the film ‘gross and exploitative,’ and ‘pointless at best and irresponsible at worst.’ The L.A. Times’ Kenneth Turan wrote after the film won the Palme d’or at Cannes that the jury confused ‘artful vacuousness with genuine art.’
'Elephant' is more like a poem about Columbine than a detective story. I am not surprised by the critical response. I was jettisoning theatrical conventions most moviegoers (and critics) assume a film is supposed to have. I think that critics have their viewpoints and their viewpoints are valid. Really, the film is meant to be looked at and commented on. It’s not meant to be commented on favorably."
("Elephant: Director Van Sant on his Controversial Movie", Emmanuel Levy, 2006)
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A girl in China, who was known for being abusive to people in her building, shouted at a guy.
He didn’t say anything. Then she spat in his face. He beat her after that.
Her friends stood there recording and didn’t do anything.
The director warned it was too dangerous and told him to simply walk down james cagney improvised the iconic stairway dance and ignored the advice and nailed it in one take
“We rip out so much of ourselves to be cured of things faster that we go bankrupt by the age of thirty and have less to offer each time we start with someone new. But to make yourself feel nothing so as not to feel anything — what a waste!”