Gerry (2002 film)
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| Directed by | Gus Van Sant |
| Produced by | Dany Wolf |
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| Music by | Arvo Pärt |
| Cinematography | Harris Savides |
| Edited by |
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| Distributed by | THINKFilm |
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Running time
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103 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $3.5 million |
| Box office | $254,683 |
Gerry is a 2002 American drama film directed by Gus Van Sant and starring Matt Damon and Casey Affleck, who also co-wrote the film with Van Sant. It is the first film of Van Sant's "Death Trilogy", three films based on deaths that occurred in real life, and is succeeded by Elephant (2003) and Last Days (2005).
Frequently cited as an example of non-narrative cinema, Gerry is noted, among other things, for its slow pacing and unvarying set pieces.
Gerry follows two hiking companions who both go by the name "Gerry". "Gerry" is also a slang term, used by both protagonists throughout the misadventure, meaning "to screw up". Van Sant revealed in interviews that Damon, Affleck and his brother Ben had already coined the term before the movie had been named.
The film's plot shares some commonalities with the events surrounding the death of David Coughlin, who was killed by his friend after the two became lost in Rattlesnake Canyon in New Mexico.
The film's style was largely inspired by the work of Hungarian director Bela Tarr, namely its use of extended scenes playing out in uncut master shots. There are a few direct visual quotations from Tarr's Satantango such as a shot following the two protagonists while tumbleweeds blow around them that mimics a shot in Tarr's film where three people walk through a town as a windstorm blows around leaves and trash.
Besides the work of Bela Tarr, the video game Tomb Raider was cited as an influence on the style of the film. Van Sant had mentioned that he hadn't had much experience with video games and was struck by the fact that the lack of the ability to cut away from the action in video games meant having to stay with the characters during travel that would normally be glossed over in films. In an interview with Filmmaker Magazine Van Sant stated "In some ways, Gerry is Béla Tarr fused with Tomb Raider!"
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