There are art films that are misunderstood by general audience. There are art films that might have been understood by general audience if not for incompetency of their authors. And there are art films that confirms all the biases of people who don’t like art films. Gerry, 2002 drama written and directed by Gus Van Sant, is such film.
The plot, very loosely inspired by real life story of hiker David Coughlin that occurred few years earlier, begins when two unnamed protagonists, played by Matt Damon and Casey Affleck, arrive at remote location in the desert in order to start hiking at wilderness trailers. Two young men, who both call each other “Gerry” and use word “gerry” as slang term for failing. And the failure is exactly what they would do after seeing other people on the trail and, trying to avoid unwante company, stray from it. After a while, when they decide to go back on trail, they realise that they can’t and they are lost in desert. All their attempts to return to civilisation or even have some clues about their location fail and soon they face the lack of food or water that would condemn them to slow agonising death from starvation and dehydration.
Gerry is based on relative simple idea that could have been been used for life-affirming survival story (like 127 Hours few years later) or some serious drama with tragic overtones like Sean Penn’s Into the Wild. Van Sant, however, used it an excuse for grand, annoying and ultimately failed experiment that shows less of his skill and more of an ability to annoy everyone but his most ardent fans. There isn’t much plot in the film – everything consists of two characters walking in the desert without any aim or purpose, and dialogues are minimal. Characters are complete enigma and remain so until the end, with audience having great difficulty to feel any empathy for them or care for their, generally self-inflicted, plight. The only thing that could maintain viewers’ attention is cinematography of Harris Savides and desert locations in three different countries (Argentina, Jordan and USA), but that isn’t enough what looks like a complete waste of time.
RATING: 2/10 (-)
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