Stars: Matt Damon, Casey Affleck

Director: Gus Van Sant

Summary: Two friends named Gerry driving through Death Valley decide to finish their journey on foot. Soon the pair are both lost in the desert without provisions...

In Gus Van Sant's GERRY, a film more concerned with atmosphere and visual breadth than with story or plot, a frivolous hike through the desert evolves into an existential journey for two young men. The film features only two characters, both named Gerry and played by the film's co-creators Casey Affleck and Matt Damon. Driving through a desert populated with imposing rock formations and bordered by miles of sky, the two Gerrys stop to see an unspecified 'thing' which they are unable to find. The two young men then attempt to return to their car, but cannot find the way back. As they wander through the increasingly difficult desert terrain, their journey strains their friendship and becomes an exploration that is clearly about more than just finding the car.
After several commercial projects, GERRY is in some ways a return to roots for director Gus Van Sant. The motifs of moving clouds and the desert imagery may recall his early works--MY OWN PRIVATE IDAHO and EVEN COWGIRLS GET THE BLUES--but GERRY is even more ambitious than those revered projects. Highly influenced by Hungarian filmmaker Bela Tarr (WERCKMEISTER HARMONIES), the film uses minimal dialogue and long, languishing shots to achieve a meditative mood.

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Screenwriters rarely develop a distinctive voice that can be recognized from movie to movie, but the ornate imagination of Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich, Adaptation) has made him a unique and much-needed cinematic presence. In Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, a guy decides to have the memories of his ex-girlfriend erased after she's had him erased from her own memory--but midway through the procedure, he changes his mind and struggles to hang on to their experiences together. In other hands, the premise of memory-erasing would become a trashy science-fiction thriller; Kaufman, along with director Michel Gondry, spins this idea into a funny, sad, structurally complex, and simply enthralling love story that juggles morality, identity, and heartbreak with confident skill. The entire cast--Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Kirsten Dunst, Elijah Wood, Mark Ruffalo, Tom Wilkinson, and more--give superb performances, carefully pitched so that cleverness never trumps feeling. A great movie. --Bret Fetzer

Aspect Ratio:	2.35 Anamorphic Wide Screen
Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Trailer, Salt Lake Van Sant
Year:	2003
Release Date:	March 1, 2004
Runtime:	98 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	V C D 0375
Keywords:	General, Wide, Screen, Gerry, Drama
Genre:	Drama