Gerry

Say what you want about Gus Van Sant, but he sure knows how to film two guys walking for 100 minutes. Matt Damon and Casey Affleck get lost in the desert and speak in pointless improv dialogue. Then one dies. This is one of those movies that will make you look around and think you're on a hidden-camera show because what you're watching has just got to be a joke. I'm supposed to watch six minutes of a camera circling the actors as they sit quietly and stare into space? I'm supposed to watch eight minutes of two guys walking slowly through the desert without saying anything? Really?

There's lots of long shots of mountains and skies that are seemingly pointless. There is a method to it, though. Since it's open-ended and doesn't tell you what to think, it gives you a chance to imagine what the characters are thinking and drift off in your own direction. You might think, the world is big, people are small, what is the meaning of life? You may ask yourself, what are the lyrics to that Talking Heads song? Or you might think, if I fast-forward, the skies will go by faster and I won't miss any dialogue, and what is the meaning of my life if I spend it watching movies like this?