Gerry
From the groundbreaking director of GOOD WILL HUNTING and FINDING FORRESTER, GERRY stars Academy Award(R) winner Matt Damon (Best Original Screenplay, GOOD WILL HUNTING, 1997; THE BOURNE IDENTITY, OCEAN'S ELEVEN) and Casey Affleck (OCEAN'S ELEVEN, SOUL SURVIVORS) in a suspenseful and highly provocative story of two men pushed to the limit! A pair of best friends (Affleck and Damon), who've nicknamed each other "Gerry," set out on a desert hike. But what begins as a simple daytime adventure turns into an intense life-and-death journey that will test the strength of human endurance and ultimately, their friendship! Written by Damon, Affleck, and Director Gus Van Sant, this uncommonly compelling and starkly visualized film is a must-see motion picture that has earned the overwhelming praise of critics nationwide!
In Gerry, two young men (Matt Damon and Casey Affleck) wander beautiful, barren, and surreal landscapes, gradually growing more and more lost. This film from Gus Van Sant (director of Drugstore Cowboy, My Own Private Idaho, and Good Will Hunting) has no story, hardly any dialogue, and even less in the way of "action" or "events." Yet the movie is by turns maddening and hypnotic; although few people will agree on which are the maddening scenes and which are the hypnotic ones, you will leave Gerry with one or more stunning images in your head. In fact, Gerry is probably more pleasurable to remember than it is to sit through. Committed performances, flashes of dark humor, and a smattering of visual effects give the movie some shape, but the more you just surrender to the emptiness of the landscape, the more rewarding Gerry will be. --Bret Fetzer
Gerry Accessories
Gerry Reviews
Gerry is Gus Van Sant's first attempt to break into the art house style of creative and original storytelling and simplistic filmmaking. It tells a rather disturbing story of two young men who go out into the wilderness on a hiking trip for no particular reason it seems other than to perhaps see something interesting. Eventually their interest subsides and they both decide to head back home, but before long they slowly begin to realize that they are lost in the desert and cannot find their way out. Still, they continue to exchange small talk and they continue to keep their high hopes while their fears that they may likely die slowly becomes an inescapable possibility.
I really like what Gus Van Sant has done here. He has told a simple story about two young men who have, through their own simplistic mannerisms, gotten lost. Van Sant manages to hold the intensity of the idea together perfectly. However, the story and the context that this idea is put in is far from perfect. I hate to admit it, especially because Gus Van Sant is one of my favorite filmmakers, but this film really sucks in a way that made me remarkably angry. Don't listen to what the critics say about the man-vs-wild aspects or the hardship of friendship or the destruction of the human psyche under stress. I'm going to go on record by saying that this film doesn't have any of that in any form. There's no imagery to suggest that the film's characters are suffering from anymore than they should. There's no attempts at symbolism or developments or metaphysical storytelling. There is nothing. This film is a joke, and it's sad to say that because I think that Gus Van Sant actually does take this idea seriously. I think that he does believe that he has crafted something of prime genius here. The problem is that he is fooling himself even more than he is fooling the audience, at least from my standpoint. The film doesn't have celebrate joy of human existence. The film doesn't allow us any sort of hope for anything. The film isn't intense. The film isn't interesting. The film isn't the slightest bit emotional or original. Instead, it's just an hour and forty minute bore of horrible improvised dialogue, good cinematography, and no premise. The experimental nature of a film won't mean anything if there isn't any sort of ambition for plot, but this film lays it all on the absolute minimum of minimum storytelling and as a result, for me anyway, it is painful to watch.
So what did I like about it? Well, the opening shot is absolutely majestic. The shot of the car on the road with the beautiful piano music and the wide open sky is absolutely magnificent. There are also a handful of interesting shots of the desert and of the characters in the desert, two of which I have provided screenshots of in this review, that lingered in my mind after the film ended. I also really appreciate Van Sant's use of sound in this film. It's very subtle, but it really speaks for itself. The performances of Matt Damon and Casey Affleck are both very good. The mood that the early scenes in the film generate definitely help it grip the audience's attention. There are also a few scenes of dry comedy that help to generate some sort of energy to the film. All this definitely may trick the audience into thinking that there's more going on here than there ultimately really is.
Some have called the film a masterpiece, hailing it as a work of pure cinema and ambition. I can agree with that to some extent. Others call the film one of the worst independent films of the 2000s. I don't think I would go that far. There are a lot of horrible films that came out before and after Gerry that have been insufferable. Gerry is, however, a failure. It's a film in which it's ambitions are lost in the technicality of the sublime lack of energy, truth, storytelling, and art. It's not fascinating, challenging, entertaining, or even remotely abstract. It's just a dire piece of pointless nothingness that will only hold your attention if you are interested in unusual films about the desert, and even then I can think of films that work better. Gerry is a film that angered me and depressed me. I've seen it four times now and each time I feel even more and more robbed. I can't put this film down enough. I hate this film.
Not for your typical American viewer, no car chases, nothing blows up, no special effects/cgi, no boobs...which is why most will not like it, which is good.
Dumb & dumber go hiking . . . in the desert. They get lost. That's it.
Not a lot of talkin', which is good cause these boys ain't got nothing to say.
Some nice scenery. About as interesting as watching paint dry.
Ends with a "WTF" ending. Maybe some reviewers found this made the film "provocative". Lame cop-out for real plot in my opinion. You decide: if you can stand it that long.
Continuity alert: Casey has a white hooded sweatshirt when he goes into the desert. At the big rock, it's not there any more. Considering how little else goes on in this movie and how important any protection is in the desert, why wasn't this omission noticed?
Matt Damon's "Gerry" killed Casey Afflex's "Gerry"??? Really? Huh?
I have to review this movie because I reviewed "Elephant" and in the middle of "Gerry", I said to myself...wait a minute--is this a Gus Van Sant movie? I had no idea because there were no titles in the beginning and I had just recorded this horrible movie from a satillite channel.
Pointless, postcard scenery, long, meaningless shots of driving, walking, more walking (like in Elephant) and sparse, boring, nutty dialog. And about as far away from reality as you can get (except, see Elephant).
Why would two modern, supposedly smart, educated guys go for a hike in the desert without water, a compass, hats, snacks and a map? They brought their ciggies and lighters though. The scene where Affleck jumps off the rock into the "dirt mattress" was surely just to show off.
Gus Van Sant movies aren't for everyone, I agree. I just kind of always want some story, acting, production values (that maybe have a few bucks spent on them) and a director that doesn't fall asleep during filming.
Gerry is a one-of-a-kind experience, a cinematic force beyond any sense of category or label, and DEFINITELY not for everyone. If you want to watch Gerry, you need...
1. Patience
2. An attention span
3. An appreciation for nature
4. An appreciation for film
5. A knack for analysis
6. An adoration of the unique
and, most importantly,
7. An open mind
If you think you contain at least six of those traits, you will adore Gerry as I do. If not, you'd best turn back now. Those 104 minutes aren't coming back.
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