There are two important things about Gus Van Sant's Gerry that
need to be said right up front. 1.) This is a hated film. I first got
a chance to see this loopy, improvisational tone poem of a picture at
a screening during the Independent Spirit Awards earlier this year,
and by the time we were twenty minutes into it, half of the already
tiny audience had vacated noisily. In huffs and puffs about how
nothing was happening and how sad the was the fact that such talented
actors as Casey Affleck and Matt Damon (well, okay, maybe just Damon)
were wasting their time with such a project: These defectors didn't
just walk out, they stormed out. 2.) Gerry gets this writer's vote as
the best movie in the five years, hands down.
Such polarization
is necessary when it comes to anything that tries to be fringy and
cult-worthy. If you can make it through the first third of Gerry, a
picture that is surreal and hypnotic, you'll be rewarded with some of
the most inventive, sprawling filmmaking you are likely to see anytime
soon. The complaint is that the picture is too simple – two guys
go for a hike and get lost (and that's all, folks) – but Gerry
is more than just The Blair Witch Project without the Witch – it
is undeniably, truly unique. What other film can you say that about?
past the boundaries of its Beckett-meets-John Muir narrative scope and
ends up becoming a heartily unique cinematic experience. Only one
critic seemed to get it right. Owen Gleiberman from Entertainment
Weekly described the film as (and I paraphrase – his order may
be different) "Beckett meets Ansel Adams meets Warhol meets Blair
Witch," and he couldn't be more right. Why Gerry is worth
something is because its minimalist dialogue and virtually real-time
structure recall a host of earlier classics but contains moments of
true inventiveness and originality – it is like a delicious
bouquet of art film theatrics. I will also applaud Gerry as a
political statement. It is utterly ordinary for Hollywood directors to
stage a "retreat" from the big-time studio machine and make
their "indie flick," just to "keep it real."
(Bullshit.) Look at Barry Levinson making the atrociously plain An
Everlasting Piece, or Oliver Stone‘s teeny U-Turn: They are
"independent" but the same old same old. I love Stone more
than most, but U-Turn is as accessible and audience-pleasing as
anything he's ever made. And Everlasting Piece plays it safe at every
possible moment, as afraid as any Spielberg or Zemeckis movie that its
audience might take offense and run away screaming if someone actually
attempts a challenging idea.
Love it or hate it, Gerry goes way
off the deep end formally. Insanely, ecstatically long tracking shots
come one right after another. The excellent sound design rarely uses
music as a mood enhancer. Scenes seem to have no initial purpose, and
the plot is circular. Gerry is a tough movie to digest, a tough
picture to wrap your heart around. But it returns to the
"independent film" ethic long ago abandoned in our post-
Sundance world. It is a punk movie, a cinematic "fuck you".
This movie all but dares you to hate it. And for that, I'll freely
admit to loving it twice as much as I have any right to. I beg you:
Give it a shot.
Video: How Does The Disc Look?
Simply amazing! Presented here in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen,
there is little fault to find. Every once in a while there is a minor
blemish, and maybe a couple of scenes suffer from a bit of blur, but
otherwise this is a top-notch transfer. Colors are masterful,
reproduced with a rich vividness. Blacks are rock solid and detail
crisp. I know this may sound hyperbole, but director of photography's
Harris Savides work here is truly exceptional. This may not be an
absolutely perfect transfer, but it is pretty damn close.
Audio: How Does The Disc Sound?
This is where Gerry
blows it out of the water: There may seem to be just a simply 5.1
Dolby Digital track, but it is an example of excellent craftsmanship
reproduced with alarming precision. Frequency response is expansive
and the .1 LFE channel delivers some surprisingly deep low bass when
needed. Surround use is sometimes deceptively mild, but highly
effective in its subtlety. Gerry may be simple, but it sounds like a
million bucks.
Also included are English subtitles and Closed
Captions.
Supplements: What Goodies Are There?
Alas, this otherwise fine edition falters here: the 13-minute
featurette, "SaltLake Van Sant" is really
quite good if all too short, but that's all she wrote. This short
feature simply documents one single shot, but it is one of as
complicated and swoon-inducingly glamorous as it is obtuse, vague and
fly-on-the-wall in all the right ways. We see crew members tooling
around in golf carts, what look like miles and miles of dolly track,
and Gus and his team trying to pull it all off. Gerry fans will love
every second of it, but I can't deny that I wish there was more.
DVD-ROM Exclusives: What do you get when you pop the disc in
your PC?
No ROM extras have been included.
Parting Thoughts
Gerry is an extraordinary film
or awful, depending on which side of the fence you're on. But this is
an excellent DVD in terms of quality – great transfer and
soundtrack, just way lacking in extras. I would have loved to have
seen this one get the Criterion treatment. But as is, I give this one
my highest possible recommendation nonetheless.
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