After watching Milk , i have a new appreciation for Gus Van Sant so i brought some of his movies (as you do), I really liked Elephant, Last Days, did like my private idaho but it may have been a bit out there for me, is there any other movies you guy's can recommend?
Van Sant's filmography is an odd one because of the way he tends to go back and forth between slickly produced high profile stuff and really small, intimate low budget films.
I'd probably say my favorite Gus Van Sant film is still the movie that really put him on the map, 1989's Drugstore Cowboy, a film about a gang of drug addicts in the 70s who travel cross-country breaking into pharmacies and hospitals. I think it's one of Matt Dillon's best performances, and it features then unknowns Heather Graham and James LeGros in supporting roles.
I think his two mid-90s mainstream films, To Die For and Good Will Hunting are also great.
It seems like you've already discovered his more recent films.
----- Use all your well-learned politesse or I'll lay your soul to waste.
Posts: 5923 | Location: Michigan | Registered: 19 June 2005
While Gus Van Sant, isn't a favorite director of mine, not that he's bad. It's just there's not a lot of movies that he's done that I've been completely enamored with. But I did like his Finding Forrester (2000) with Sean Connery as a reclusive author.
Posts: 1481 | Location: Utah, United States | Registered: 22 July 2005
van sant is an interesting director to me. he has his meetings with mainstream studio fims which he handles well - to die for, good will hunting, finding forrester. milk was a great example of a fine studio film which had an approach that would have been very basic in another hollywood directors' hand. when he is given full control he delivers big time with films like mala noche, drugstore cowboy, elephant and last year's paranoid park. that for me makes him one of the finest in american cinema.
rgautam Enthusiast Posted 20 April 2009 09:47 PM Hide Post van sant is an interesting director to me. he has his meetings with mainstream studio fims which he handles well - to die for, good will hunting, finding forrester. milk was a great example of a fine studio film which had an approach that would have been very basic in another hollywood directors' hand. when he is given full control he delivers big time with films like mala noche, drugstore cowboy, elephant and last year's paranoid park. that for me makes him one of the finest in american cinema.
Oops! I somehow missed Mr. Sant's directorial credit for Good Will Hunting another good movie. As a director, bumped him up another notch.
Posts: 1481 | Location: Utah, United States | Registered: 22 July 2005
I've not watched a lot of Gus Van Sant's movies. I walked into 'Milk' expecting 'Elephant' but it turned out Milk is a lot more conventional than the Cannes winner. No rainbow-coloured tight T, no outrageous hairdos or girlie-voiced flamboyance, Milk is all serious gay business as it follows Milk's personal life and political campaign trail. For a while I thought I was watching a Michael Moore's documentary, but Milk is less manipulative, a bit more objective, therefore feels less like a personal crusade. But all these calculated efforts to minimize provocation to the mainstream conservatives also makes Milk's historical milestones feel distant and diluted.
Overall, Milk's plainly assembled montage of old clips and present re-enactments don't quite succeed in delivering a cinematic experience to the audience. The whole exercise could have been a made-for-TV documentary. A lot of Milk's important aides are not given enough focus and screen time. Those who are not familiar with the history of the whole thing, like me, will only know who the important figures are in the end.
