Gerry (2002)

Director:

Gus Van Sant

Writers (WGA):

Casey Affleck (written by) &
Matt Damon (written by) ...

Release Date:

20 September 2002 (Greece)

Genre:

Drama | Adventure

Plot:

A friendship between two twenty-something men is tested to its very limits when they go on a hike in a desert and forget to bring any water or food with them. |

Plot Keywords:

Desert | Jump From Height | Driving | Mirage | Lost

Awards:

2 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Casey Affleck	...	Gerry
Matt Damon	...	Gerry

Also Known As:

The Actual Gerry (USA) (working title)
Джерри (Russia) [ru]
Gerry (Argentina) (festival title) [es]
Gerry (Greece) [el]

MPAA:

Rated R for language.

Runtime:

103 min | Argentina:105 min (Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Germany:12 | Iceland:L | Australia:M | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:NC-16 | USA:TV-MA (cable rating) | Argentina:13 | Canada:14A | Netherlands:AL | UK:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Argentina

Company:

Epsilon Motion Pictures

Trivia:

This film runs for about 100 minutes, and features exactly 100 shots, resulting in an average shot length of about 60 seconds.

Goofs:

Continuity: At the end of the movie when Gerry is lying on his back, his legs change from flat to bent and back again. This obviously could not possibly happen due to his condition.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Gerry: Hey, Gerry, the path.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Sur les traces de Gerry (2004) (V)

Soundtrack:

Spiegel im Spiegel

an impressive devastating true story adaptation

I've seen "My Own Private Idaho", "Finding Forrester" and "Good Will Hunting" by Gus Van Sant which were all fairly impressive but now am very eager to watch the 2003 Palme D'Or winner "Elephant", especially after my initial screening of "Gerry" last night which tops all the Van Sant flicks I've seen to date. This is an engaging effort from Gus, and outstanding career highlight performances for the main actors Casey Affleck and Matt Damon. I can see why people are saying that some shots are "too long" and other comments like "I fell asleep", however I love this style of cinema which reminded me a lot of the spectacular effort from Kitano with "Dolls". Minimal, hypnotic, and great shots throughout. The camera trickery has to be highlighted with varying depth of field shots giving you a deluded sense of fatigue, plus the ongoing buzzing sound which intensifies with the sun throughout the evolving journey, similar to the buzzing lights in Noé's "Irréversible". The main point I want to bring up is the film was very well structured and scripted for the time it covers. It's realistic and well balanced with regular events. However if your comfort zone sits around the 'Hollywood standard' where there's a 5 camera shoot for every scene with 3 second cuts between shots and the suspenseful default score to keep you 'on your seat', then you'll be pleasantly appalled with this 'real' rendition of a devastating true story.

8/10