It might not be the point, but generally in a fictional story, if I don't care about the characters, I probably won't care about what's happening in the film. Or maybe I'm just too far removed from high school to connect with the story...
Elephant is not fiction. While it is not 100% fact, it is essentially a factual story, moreso than virtually any "True Life" movie you are ever likely to see.
Not sure if this has been covered anywhere else, but I just rented this movie from Netflix and was wondering what the special features were. In the main menu it has the option to select the special features like many other DVDs. Well when I selected said option, the DVD said the features were on side 2 of the DVD.
One problem, there is no side 2 on the rental DVD. There is a label on one side. Were the special features only meant to be on purchase DVDs only? Netflix also doesn't mention anything about this and doesn't say anything about a second DVD either.
This movie did not do much for me either. I found the camera work, following around the characters very distracting and obvious. It made me aware of the camera presence too much. This is the first nono in cinematography.
As far as the characters, they all left me cold. The only one time they showed the kid getting picked on and getting stuff thrown at him .. did not justify his actions to me. Plus he looked like he can handle his own ...
I get the point the movie was trying to make, but this was unnecesary waste of celluloid.
Aurel, based on what you said in the spoilered section, you did not get the point of the movie. I'm also completely unaware of any basic rule in cinematography that was broken. This isn't a drama.
Rick, it sounds like Netflix put a label on the side with the extras. Don't worry, there isn't much there.