Elephant (2003) (2003) poster
2003 · drama

Elephant (2003)

Directed by Gus Van Sant1h 21m2003
ElsewhereTMDB7.02k
  • heavy
  • slow-burn
  • extreme
  • bleak
  • cold
  • signature
Movie DNA

Heavy, slow-burn, extreme drama, grounded in texture. Nihilistic, mid-stakes, cold, hand-scored across twelve axes of taste.

How every film is hand-scored →

Several ordinary high school students go through their daily routine as two others prepare for something more malevolent.

Our read · Elephant (2003) (2003) reads as a heavy, slow-burn, grounded drama entry — extreme in intensity, mid-stakes in scope, cold in temperature, nihilistic in outlook, with a strong directorial signature. Hand-scored on twelve axes of taste — mood, pacing, weirdness, hope, stakes, humour, reality, density, warmth, auteur, intensity, and era — with a derived palette drawn from its dominant cinematography.

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Availability in the UK · via JustWatch

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The shape of Elephant

Tonight, this looks like

What watching it is actually like.

You want a haunting look at everyday life before sudden horror.

ends devastatingit will wreck youmeditativegrips by minute 20attention 5/5earns its length
Date nightWith friendsSoloWith parentsKids around
Heads-upgraphic violencedrug usechild peril

Skip it tonightYou are sensitive to school violence or realistic dread.

DNA · twelve axes

The reading.

Each axis is hand-scored — not derived from votes or genre averages. The marker shows where this film sits; the gradient fill uses the film's own cinematography palette.

Mood · HeavyCosy
Pacing · Slow-burnKinetic
Intensity · GentleExtreme
Weirdness · ConventionalSurreal
Hope · NihilisticRedemptive
Stakes · IntimateEpic
Humour · NoneBroad
Reality · GroundedFantastical
Density · SparseTwisty
Warmth · ColdTender
Auteur · TransparentSignature
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