Gerry (2002)

User Rating:

6.2/10   

Director:

Gus Van Sant

Writers (WGA):

Casey Affleck (written by) &
Matt Damon (written by) ...

Release Date:

20 September 2002 (Greece)

Genre:

Drama | Adventure

Plot:

A friendship between two twenty-something men is tested to its very limits when they go on a hike in a desert and forget to bring any water or food with them. |

Plot Keywords:

Desert | Jump From Height | Driving | Mirage | Lost

Awards:

2 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Casey Affleck	...	Gerry
Matt Damon	...	Gerry

Also Known As:

The Actual Gerry (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for language.

Runtime:

103 min | Argentina:105 min (Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Germany:12 | Iceland:L | Australia:M | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:NC-16 | USA:TV-MA (cable rating) | Argentina:13 | Canada:14A | Netherlands:AL | UK:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Argentina

Company:

Epsilon Motion Pictures

Trivia:

This film runs for about 100 minutes, and features exactly 100 shots, resulting in an average shot length of about 60 seconds.

Goofs:

Continuity: At the end of the movie when Gerry is lying on his back, his legs change from flat to bent and back again. This obviously could not possibly happen due to his condition.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Gerry: Hey, Gerry, the path.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Saltlake Van Sant (2003) (V)

Soundtrack:

Spiegel im Spiegel

Having spent time in the desert makes a difference

I have spent a lot of time in the desert and I think what Gus Van Sant was trying to portray (and maybe not very effectively) is that space/time warp you experience when you find yourself in a place where your attention span must go from 1/2 second to a billion years, where one's sense of the passage of time becomes almost irrelevant. The human brain, especially in this age of MTV, cannot fathom the slowness of geologic change in the desert, and has trouble fathoming the change of perspective, where everything seems closer than it really is. I have "walked that walk" where the object you're heading toward keeps receding into the distance, and the tendency is to walk as the two Gerrys were walking in the slow shot of the sides of their heads, and hear nothing but the measured crunching of your footsteps. The long shot was perfectly appropriate. Maybe one has to spend time in the desert to "get it", but I thought the film was dead right-on with the music, the visuals and the pacing. I loved the film and will watch it again and probably again.