DVD Review: Gerry
At a lengthy hour and a half, this film stretches dauntingly in front of the viewer, but that may well have been the aim of director Gus Van Sant.
The tone of Gerry is oppressive, the shots are long and sometimes painful and the landscape is terrifyingly vast and minimalistic. Two best friends, each named Gerry (Casey Affleck and Matt Damon) lose their way in the desert after setting out on what was supposed to be a short hike. It can only be assumed that the main characters were given the same name in order to avoid a title with an ampersand that evoked a buddy cop movie.
Gerry is a difficult film that moves from amusing confusion to hopeless terror as the situation of the two Gerrys fails to improve. The arty tones are overwhelmed by the sheer blunt reality of the subject matter; the landscape is just as much a character as Gerry or Gerry. The performances of Affleck and Damon are up to scratch and the believable dialogue, though rare, provides a reasonably solid backbone.
Unfortunately, Van Sant becomes so fixated on the blank space around the lines that no proper effort is made to develop the film’s two characters. The audience walks away knowing very little about what these guys actually do, it is as if the opportunity to make the audience truly care was wilfully ignored. Perhaps this was done in the hope that the audience could project themselves onto these all but blank canvases, but while this doesn’t dull the impact of the traumatic situation to the point of indifference, it does make the story less interesting. Over the 90 minutes a willing viewer is required, for the full emotional impact to take its toll.
Gerry draws you into a stumbling wide open maze along with the boys and this plays on our primal fear of being lost. Don’t watch Gerry for a good time, or even a wild ride. It’s a film that invites you to think, but only if you’re in the mood. See, it is all too easy to imagine getting into the very situation in which the oddly mysterious Gerry and Gerry find themselves, and this is why the movie, despite flaws, works.
