Gus Van Sant
Gerry

"Gerry" is a cruel film, reckless, not at all entertaining. One of those raw products that gerrify you in the duodenum for a few days, and who knows if you ever completely digest them. Know therefore that this is my regurgitation.

Few know that in the scraps of the pre-production of "Elephant", Gus Van Sant assembled a bizarre creature named "Gerry". In a few days, out of his own pocket, with two actors and about twenty words of script, distributed to friends and family. Have I already said reckless?

The fact is that the first episode of the "death trilogy" is there, hidden like a scorpion under the stone.

Warning, in the following line the plot of the work will be revealed:

"Two friends get lost in the desert".

That's all.

Gerry is a dry film, like the remains of a martyr, Gerry is a harrowing enchantment, like the Death Valley under the boundless sky, what is the use of beauty if there is no one to watch it? Cui prodest? And what's the use of being surrounded by beauty when every fiber of your body dries up, when you drag yourself on your legs only to gerrify the boundaries of your grave?

I wrote that Gerry is a cruel film, I would add that it can be intolerable. Endless sequence shots, slowness that becomes flesh, the rare syllables dripped like grains of an hourglass, a dribble. There are those two in there, but soon it's you and me, or you and whoever you think, or just you. And your throat goes dry, you'd like to hit the damn pause button, drink, listen to a human voice. Yet you don't. Could it be a rare case of empathy?

"Gerry" is a metaphysical film. Herzog's "Fata Morgana" completely dried up, the moisture is all in the clouds and in the tears.

P.S. : Hats off to Matt Damon and Casey Affleck, co-authors of a story that seems to flow in their veins since the first, memorable sequence shot.

P.P.S. : For the reckless ones who want to get it, go with file sharing. The original version with Italian subtitles is floating around, it's better this way, the last three words from Gerry's real voice will stick to you even more, inexorably.