I like Gus Van Sant. I like his experimental stuff and I like his mainstream stuff. I think he's one of the more interesting filmmakers of the last 20 years, even if the reaction to his work (specifically the experimental stuff) is generally mixed and uncertain.

With that said, this is a terrible fucking movie. If it was anyone other than Van Sant - Adam Shankman, for instance, or Nick Cassavetes - I'd pass it off as merely something not worth anyone's time. But because this is from the man behind Gerry and Elephant and the Psycho remake, I'm honestly perplexed. I can't tell if this is meant to be a parody of cancer romance films or if Van Sant briefly lost his mind and decided to make as banal and lifeless a film as possible.

Frankly, there's really nothing noteworthy or redeeming about the movie at all. It's an ugly, artless film, full of baffling stylistic choices and pointless scenes. A stereotypical romance montage squeezed in the middle is laughably generic and meaningless. A subplot involving a kamikaze ghost adds basically nothing to the proceedings. There's a lot of empty rhetoric about life and death and love, but it's dealt with so flippantly and carelessly you can't be sure it's not a joke. Hopper shows none of his father's talent (and looks like an emo twerp to boot) and I'm quickly growing tired of Wasikowska's brand of twee hipster acting. If I didn't have a crush on Schuyler Fisk, I'd call the whole thing a complete wash.

So yeah, bad movie. Avoid at all costs.

Wrong. Best movie of the year so far. Dreamy and achingly beautiful. I saw it a second time before getting in line for a concert a few days ago. The cinematic equivalent of a great Smiths song.

http://www.worldofkj.com/article.php?i=451

I love how trixster notes the Psycho remake over Drugstore Cowboy or My Own Private Idaho (!) or Last Days. Pretentious bastard.

I haven't seen Van Sant's early stuff. And his Psycho is arguably the most experimental film he's made.

I thought it was a sweet little movie with charming performances, especially from Wasikowska, who I slowly become a fan of. B

B/B-

Cute little movie.