Gerry

Director: Gus Van Sant

2002 / 103min / 35mm

Two friends, each nicknamed “Gerry” by the other, set out to take a hike across the arid wastes of Death Valley together, and in due course find themselves staring into a blanched void, lacking food, water, and any sense of how to find their way back to civilization. The first film in Van Sant’s Death trilogy, followed by 2003’s Elephant and 2005’s Last Days, Van Sant’s bracingly experimental return to his low-budget, underground roots—he would describe the film’s style as “Béla Tarr fused with Tomb Raider”—was written by the director in collaboration with stars Matt Damon and Casey Affleck, both of whom give career performances in this absurdist anti-drama comprised of exquisite, dialogue-sparse long takes seen through the lens of master cinematographer Harris Savides.

Print courtesy of the Gus Van Sant Collection at the Academy Film Archive