Herb Kane
Screenwriter
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- May 7, 2001
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Elephant
Studio: HBO
Year: 2003
Rated: R
Film Length: 81 Minutes
Aspect Ratio: 4:3 & 1.85:1 Enhanced Widescreen
Audio: English DTS, DD 5.1 & 2.0, French & Spanish mono.
Color/B&W: Color
Languages: English, French & Spanish
Subtitles: English, French & Spanish
MSRP: $27.95
Package: Keep Case
The Feature:
I happen to subscribe to the “less is more” philosophy. I’m not a big on reading a fifty page report that can be summed up in six paragraphs, nor am I a fan of watching a three hour film where I felt that an hour of it should have been lopped off. And by the same token, I do appreciate a film or a book that causes me to think and doesn’t needlessly spell out every detail to a point where nothing is left for the imagination. If ever a film was created and subscribed to the “less is more” philosophy, Elephant would be the epitome of such an example.
Rarely do I complete reviews where the actors aren’t listed, such is the case here. Virtually all of the actors are teens who attend one of the local high schools (the film was shot in Portland, Oregon), most of whom actually went by their first names in the film. Elephant was written and directed by Gus Van Sant (who was responsible for directing Finding Forrester and Good Will Hunting). For those not familiar with the film, this is similar to a day-in-the-life of many of those who attended Columbine High School on April 20th, 1999. The story takes place at any school in any town in American suburbia. The film is simple in that there are only brief sequences following a dozen or so kids who attend the school and the brief interactions they have with other students throughout the day as they go about their daily routines.
It’s interesting to see many of the kids and how their stories cascade eventually causing them to intersect right back to where we see them in first place. It’s a great technique that allows us to follow each and every student throughout the course of the day showing a different perspective. Ironically, some of them interact with the killers, while others do not. You’ll see many Kubrick-esque looking shots as well as several stationary camera shots, a technique which simply allows us to watch the innocence of the kids as they throw around a football or stare up into the sky, forcing us to think about the inevitable doom they’re all about to endure.
Other than the usual torments of school and post pubescent situations all of our kids must face, you’ll find no explanation for what happened nor will there be any plausible reasons for certain individuals losing their lives or others being spared. What you will see are two boys unable to cope with life’s daily struggles forcing you think about what it was that caused them to do such unspeakable things. Unfortunately, due to many of the various news agencies looking for quick ratings, we’ve been conditioned to focus on the negative in terms of catastrophic events such as Columbine. Case in point; I suspect many of us here could name Harris and Klebold as the monsters who perpetrated this heinous act. How many of us could name any of the victims as easily? Something to think about…
Video:
Apparently, this film was shown theatrically in a 4:3 aspect ratio and from what I have read may have been shown in a 16:9 ratio at other venues. In any case, the disc supplies both formats giving us the option to choose upon selecting the “play movie” feature on side “A” of the disc. As you watch this, you should keep in mind that the entire film was made with a three million dollar budget… it most certainly doesn’t look or sound like a low budget film. The A/V presentation is on par (and even better in some instances) than many current films that have been released recently.
The blacks are adequately deep and contrasted nicely were whites, always appearing clean. Colors were always vibrant and nicely saturated. Skin tones had a tendency to appear slightly on the red side.
The overall level of image clarity was pretty impressive. Though it appeared slightly soft throughout the entire, there were instances of very fine detail. As we would expect with such a new film, the print was free of any debris, dust or dirt, nor were there any scratches etc. I could not detect any compression errors and only a few instances of slight edge enhancement which wasn’t particularly bothersome.
With the budget being an obvious consideration, this image is quite pleasing and looks far better than you would ever imagine.
Audio:
This disc comes with English DTS, DD 5.1 & 2.0 as well a French and Spanish mono track. For the review, I chose DTS (hey, what would you expect a guy who exclusively reviews titles for Warner Bros. to choose?).
To say I was impressed with this track would be a gross understatement. The track could use a little help in the bottom end but everything else is all praise. This film is basically dialogue driven but what stood out was the amazing level of dynamic detail the track possessed. Things like clanging plates, walking on fallen leaves, rubbing whiskers, cameras snapping pictures, and the pouring of liquids were all sensational rendering detail as good as anything I have heard on any disc.
Dialogue was always clear and exceptionally bold even during much of the music that was used to score the film. Ironically (and effectively) much of the movie is accompanied by poignant yet peaceful music which included Beethoven’s Fur Elise which elicited a sense of melancholy knowing what the future holds. The front was relatively wide allowing for a spatial and airy soundstage. Surrounds were used minimally to capture ambient noise such as the din of the cafeteria. LFE was really only present during a thunderstorm.
This is a pretty impressive track for a low budget indie film. Though it’s lacking in the bottom end, for detail it rivals many of the recent blockbuster releases. A job well done.
Special Features:
There are only a couple of special features on the disc which are located on side two of this disc. They are:
[*] On the Set of the Film Elephant: Rolling Through Time. This is an interesting but brief “making of” which offers up comments from many of those who participated in the film, also interesting to see how the high school was converted into a mini movie set. The feature is as stylized as the film itself. Duration: 12:06 minutes.
[*] Next up is the Theatrical Trailer which is also included. Duration: 2:09 minutes.
[*] And finally, a trailer showing highlights from many of the HBO Films.
Final Thoughts:
Winner of the prestigious Palme d’Or and Best Director prizes at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival, I’d heard a lot about this thought provoking film before seeing it. It’s a very simple, yet very stylized look at what happened at a doomed high school caused by two kids who appear to be as normal as the kid next door. The film succeeds in its simplicity by allowing us to figure out what happens and by showing us how the lives of these young individuals intersect on that fateful day.
HBO has delivered a fine package with a better than average video presentation, an audio track that bests many of the big budget films and a movie that quite simply, shouldn’t be missed.
Highly Recommended…!!
Release Date: May 4th, 2004
