My Own Private Idaho **
Gus Van Sant, 1991
US
@ SIFF Cinema

Very good. Gus Van Sant is probably right up there with Richard Linklater for me in terms of working American directors. Doesn't hurt that he works so frequently in the Northwest. Milk will be a bit of a departure in that it's not about a young man who is either a danger to himself or those around him, as has been the case with ten of Van Sant's twelve features. The two exceptions are Even Cowgirls Get the Blues and To Die For, neither of which I have yet seen.
See also: IMDb

Gerry *
Gus Van Sant, 2002
US
@ home on DVD

Really, what can you say about this film? It just kind of is.

See also: IMDb | Metacritic

Paranoid Park ***
Gus Van Sant, 2008
US
@ Neptune

I thought, Yeah, Portland, Elliott Smith, of course. And then I remembered that Gus Van Sant actually propelled Smith into the spotlight by featuring him on Good Will Hunting, which is just so far removed from, say, Mala Noche, Last Days, or this (except that it's the story of one or more troubled young men) that sometimes I forget that it's all Van Sant.

I also just noticed/remembered that Casey Affleck, who I loved last year, is in Gerry, the last of Van Sant's "death" trilogy I haven't seen, so I'm pretty excited about that.

See also: IMDb | Metacritic | J. Hoberman review | Charles Mudede review