MovieChat Forums > Elephant (2003) Discussion > Horrendous acting

Horrendous acting

posted 9 years ago by Dwright1212
4 replies | jump to latest

This movie should have been very emotional and moving but the acting, especially from the two leads, is horrible. They have no emotion; the cliffhanger ending should have been gripping but the guy just says "I'm going to do it, one, two, I'm gonna do it" with no sense of enthral in the performance. Dreadful.

La religion est fausse, mais vous êtes réel. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bpq26sPbC_4

[–] SamoanJoes 9 years ago

Some were better than others.

[–] ThreeSadTigers 9 years ago

This movie should have been very emotional and moving

Why should the movie be emotional and moving? The subject matter itself is inherently emotional and moving. The film doesn't need to manipulate the audience to make them "feel" something that they should already feel instinctively.

the cliffhanger ending should have been gripping

Nothing about mass murder should ever be "gripping." The intention of the filmmaker was to depict a facsimile of the Columbine massacre in an objective and restrained way to make the audience think clearly about the circumstances and the effect that the massacre had. The intention isn't to make us feel, but rather to make us think; to keep the audience at a distance and not allow emotion to get in the way of our engagement with the material.

The idea that a normal, boring, mundane, run-of-the-mill place full of normal, boring, mundane, run-of-the-mill people could be the setting for something so unspeakable is another part of the film's aesthetic. To present it sensationalistically, with lots of melodrama and emotional manipulation, would've simply succeeded in turning a real life event into a piece of Hollywood schlock.

[–] Dwright1212 8 years ago

Your points are nonsense. Being seconds away from death should be gripping in film. And obviously the film is trying to gain some sort of sympathy from the audience, or else we wouldn't have the emotional kissing scene or any of the scenes where they realize there is no turning back. Regardless, you seem to wisely dodge my claims of the acting being terrible, which it still is. Very bland and unenthused performances throughout. I understand that they were trying to counteract a mundane lifestyle with a dramatic event, but the performances should've been just as polarizing. If you want to have a "sepia vs color" tone shift, then do it. The acting by the two leads is very poor and bored, and the movie would've been much better had their performances come anything close to the true maniacal genius of the Columbine perpetrators this film is clearly trying to bring to life.

La religion est fausse, mais vous êtes réel. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bpq26sPbC_4

[–] giangcannesoscarmath 8 years ago

What are you talking about? "Emotional kissing scene"??? That kissing scene in the shower is far from emotional. "They realize there is no turning back"??? What scenes? Right from the beginning, they were sure that they would do it and die after that, they didn't need to realize "there is no turning back". So I don't think the film is "trying to gain some sort of sympathy from the audience". Those scenes you said just add some fascinating implications to the storyline and make the characters more complex and multi-dimensional.

I think his/her point is brilliant and sharp, not nonsense. And I don't think the acting is bad or poor, those performances to me are actually solid and extremely realistic. "Elephant" is an unconventional and polarizing film, not a typical tear-jerker Hollywood film with this kind of subject matter, so I actually understand why you may think or feel about the film different from me and some of your points.