REFLECTING BACK ON GUS VAN SANT'S 2003 FILM "ELEPHANT"

Описание: PATREON: www.patreon.com/exploreoregon
INSTAGRAM: www.instagram.com/pdxfilmexplorer
FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/exploringportland


This is something I have wanted to make for a long time as this film had such an effect on me considering its time and place. The year 2003 saw the release of the $3 million art house film "Elephant", directed and released be renowned film director Gus Van Sant. Filmed as a recently closed down middle school in northeast Portland it featured several people I knew and was a film depicting high school life at a time when I was a junior in high school.
While many critique the film for its style and its pacing, often missing the point in their critiques, the film is very unique considering its subject matter. In the time after the Columbine shootings in 1999, Van Sant created a film only loosely based on that event (although some want to believe it was directly based on it) that tapped into the diverse and yet often mundane lives of high schoolers which are thrown into utter disarray when two students arrive at school with an arsenal and looking to kill as many as possible.
In this film I look back on how the film came to be, analyzing its style and addressing trivia about the production itself. I also go to the locations directly related to the film, mainly what it now an open field between NE Cesar Chavez Boulevard and NE 42nd Avenue in northeast Portland where the school used in the film used to be. I delve into the history of that school and how it came to be available for Van Sant's usage when he shot the film in the fall of 2002.
More than anything, this was a piece of nostalgia for me that I also felt might peak the interest of others considering the subject matter and for those who know the film but maybe don't know a lot about the location where it was filmed. This is not intended to be an in-depth analysis of the film but rather a reimmersion into all the intriguing elements that make for a full look back at this piece of early 2000s cinema.
Enjoy!