Elephant(2003)- User Reviews

Call me old-fashioned but I prefer movies that make me feel good about life in some way. I agree with the reviewer quoted on the poster who called the movie "unforgettable". I will never forget "Elephant" because it's the worst movie I've ever seen. Hands down.
I mean, take "Boys Don't Cry", for example. That was a depressing film, but it was also important and had traces of sweetness before the bitter. "Elephant", on the other hand, is the story of a bleak high school with bleak students who have bleak lives and relationships and are then shot apathetically by a group of their exceptionally bleak peers. The bulk of the movie is spent showing murder after murder, with no resolution. There is not enough character development here to get truly invested, so the horror just passes on-screen as your eyes glaze and your heart sinks. It leaves you, (or it should leave you) feeling dirty and depressed about the state of the world and the ills of the human mind. If high school shooting movies are somehow your cup of tea, see "The Life Before Her Eyes" or "Homeroom", both of which actually explore emotions.
"Elephant" is trying so hard to be amazing in its shocking degeneracy...trying to be wonderful for being horrible, raw and unfeeling. But it fails. I've seen some bizarre movies in my life, but never one in which not a single frame roused a sense of positivity or hope. I'd wager that this movie has pushed at least one unhappy teen over the edge into suicide or murder since '03. With "Elephant", you're not only wasting time, you're punishing yourself from open to close. I wish I didn't know that Van Sant directed this, because it will always affect how I look at his various other works. I can't respect him the same after choosing a project like this.
The sad part is that I was actually very excited to see this movie at first, because it was filmed at a high school in my hometown and people I knew knew the people in it. After it came out, people would debate me on its merits and say how wonderful it was, as if I just couldn't read between the lines. But when I would ask them why it was so great, they wouldn't be able to come up with anything but an indignant, "well... you know...cuz." People want to make it into something labyrinthine and culty like "Donnie Darko". But honestly, if someone tells you that this movie is their favorite one and that they admire the message, I wouldn't be alone with them anywhere near a firearm. I'm sick of pretentious reviewers who act like entertainment is for the weak mind, and that the more uncomfortable and sickening a film is the more it should be hailed as a "masterpiece". Again, call me old fashioned, but I like to invite happiness and pleasure into my life, and most definitely into my movie theater.
Save a piece of your soul and see a quirky, well written drama or comedy that has ups and downs instead of a just a fist full of the latter that punches you in the face. Okay...rant almost over. Don't see this worse-than-a-poke-in-the-eye sad excuse for a movie.