honestly I feel like the weakest part of elephant was just that it used up so much of its short runtime on unbroken cuts of people walking. that time could've been better used to do a little bit more character fleshing out imo. other than that its a decent solid movie and the multiple perspectives made for some *very* juicy moments of tension. some of the parts did feel kind of stilted but weirdly I liked the fact that the dialogue kind of sounded unnatural at times; at least to me it kind of fit the tone & feeling of the movie.
(Edit now that im not lightly toasted like when I wrote this: im not saying the characters in elephant were too flat or that it wasn’t good because i found it kinda slow at times. it’s got a vision and a point which i think is executed pretty well. part of it was just a personal taste thing (i like detailed characters) but im not tossing out the whole thing.)
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When the controversial film My Own Private Idaho began production, word in Hollywood was that Phoenix had convinced the recalcitrant Keanu Reeves to take the risk of also playing a gay character in the film. Phoenix disagrees. "Did it convince him? No. He was excited from the start," he recalls. "Keanu supported me and I supported him. But we had a sort of thing where if one didn't do it, the other wouldn't, as we impulsively decided at the same time to do it. So the only way I could follow up on such an impulsive idea it would be if we both did it.
During filming in Idaho in the fall of 1990, nine cast and crew members, including Phoenix and Keanu Reeves, slept on futons spread out in Van Sant's home. It was a college dorm, a tribe, a family. Van Sant showed me his garage, where a bona fide garage band consisting of Phoenix and Reeves and other Idaho actors, as well as Flea, the bassist for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, often played late into the night.
They played the sweet, out-of-order lyrics Phoenix had written for himself and his band, Aleka's Attic – "Run to the rescue with love / and peace will follow" or "Hey, hey, where's your halo gone? " They played Beatles and Led Zeppelin, balancing ashtrays in Van Sant's black BMW and drinking wine, smoking pot. Sometimes they ended up crying with Phoenix as he talked about disappearing rainforests.
(x)
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Sofia Coppola, gus van sant: 108 portraits (1993)
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Dominic Fike by Gus Van Sant for Homme+
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Rivers Phoenix watching The Simpsons in My Own Private Idaho (Gus Van Sant, 1991)
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My Own Private Idaho(1991) — dir. by Gus Van Sant
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My Own Private Idaho (1991) // dir. Gus Van Sant
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