Gus Van Sant

Paranoid Park (2007)/Milk (2008) Director : Gus Van Sant By Roderick Heath My admiration for Gus Van Sant’s films made since he retreated to the edge of mainstream film after the shameful Psycho (1998) and Finding Forrester (2000) has been tempered by a major concession. Skilled artist of mood and texture that he is, films like Elephant (2003) or Last Days (2005) conjure a psychic atmosphere that’s cut adrift from cause and effect, from analysis, and thus from intellect. They are, fundamentally, explorations of sensual existence, implicitly expelling the world of the mind and, more intently, the moral and emotional didacticism of so much ... Read Full Story

Gus Van Sant is the uncle of cool, too young to be a grandfather, but maybe not.. but I liked this film a lot. The use of music was quite interesting. The landscape of young skater kids lent itself to hip, but the story line was directed in such a way that it felt dream like. The main character is a highschool kid of about 15 who's parents are going through a divorce. He becomes enamored of a skate park commonly referred to as Paranoid Park. This park is inhabited by degenerates, and outcasts and Alex, the main character feels akin to these kids ... Read Full Story

Harvey Milk Deserves More Than Awards Season Hollywood Despite the fact that it's quite far from being a cinematical masterpiece, Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain was a landmark on many aspects. It was one of the few gay-themed films ever to be nominated for Best Picture in Academy Awards. More importantly it was the first gay romance/drama to receive mainstream appreciation throughout the world. It was one of the rare cases where an Asian director tackled an entirely American concept and succeeded in telling a highly-sensitive story. But maybe the most important one of such landmarks has brought more harm than good, because Ang Lee's ... Read Full Story

Sean Penn is the front-runner for best actor and Gus Van Sant is nominated for best director at tonight's Academy Awards. Writer Brad Balfour has done a Q&A; with both men that is up on Huffington Post so I've pulled out a few of the more interesting questions to share with you all as you get ready for your Oscar parties. Q: At what point did you become committed to making or being part of this story? GVS: I've done a few films [with] gay characters, but not super-positive gay characters. I heard about this project through Rob Epstein, [the director of the electric, ... Read Full Story

There are many pre-Oscar parties this week and I'm invited to several of them. But I doubt any of them will be able to match the spirit of Sunday night's private party for "Milk" screenwriter Dustin Lance Black at Nobu in West Hollywood. The party, given by Levi's, was also for the film's director Gus Van Sant who was not present. Celebrities there included Simon Baker of CBS's "The Mentalist," Neil Patrick Harris , Jane Lynch , singer Taylor Dane , Lance Bass and Shawn Pyfrom of "Desperate Housewives." But the real stars there - aside from Black (pictured at an earlier event), of ... Read Full Story