American Gun

Another hard-hitting and thought-provoking drama. Director Aric Avelino examines guns from the perspective of four separate stories: Marcia Gay Hardin as the mother of an Oregon teenager who shot up his school, Columbine-like, and faces guilt and blame and scorn from neighbors, and worry about her other son, who is now the same age as the other brother when he performed his murderous act and suicide; an inner city school principal (excellently played by Forest Whitaker, who I was pleased to see won an Oscar last week for his role as Idi Amin in LAST KING OF Scotland) trying to stay on top of the school's anti-gun policy, with Arlen Escarpeta as an A-student carrying for his mom and family who feels he needs a gun for protection while walking to/from school; Tony Goldwyn as the cop who first arrived on scene at the Oregon school shooting and who faces community/media criticism for delayed response (again, very much based on Columbine); and Linda Cardellini who shines in a very convincing performance as a west coast girl displaced to a Virginia college who is working in her granddad's (Donald Sutherland) gun shot. All of the performances, in fact, are striking and through them the picture really has an emotional impact. The film, without comment, portrays these differing views of gun ownership, gun violence, school shootings, guilt, blame, etc., very nicely filmed and beautifully portrayed, its vignettes and its style leaving the viewer to establish their own viewpoint and opinions. The film keeps its personal viewpoint quiet, instead simply portraying a few aspects of American life impacted by the consequences of guns. Like American HISTORY X, I found this to be a provoking and stimulating drama about reality, choices, consequences, and inevitability, peopled by honest and real characters, superbly portrayed and beautifully composed.

The film American Gun seemed like it never started far after the end credits began running. It seemed like, what the director was trying to say, was never actually portrayed on screen. With the exception of a few sporadic and impressive performances, there is nothing American Gun really offers. After reading all the comparisons to Paul Haggis' Crash on the back of the DVD cover, I was very disappointed in the outcome of this film. Many may argue that this film shows the struggle that people go through, dealing with violence in America, but the film never actually gives us a solution. Obviously director Aric Avelino's debut tries to omit any solutions to the rapid gun craze in the United States. He even traps the audience inside of a gun store before the credits roll. Overall this was an amateur effort by an amateur filmmaker whom will hopefully turn out some better film in the future.

I watched Crash. I thought it was decent. Oscar worthy? Absolutely not. I watched Babel. I thought it was absolutely terrible. If you go to the comments on that movie, you will find what I wrote about it. I watched Magnolia. Another decent type of these, but nothing I would watch over again. All of these movies got quite a bit of notice. Whether they deserved it or not, I don't really know.

But what I do know is that American Gun deserved some serious attention. This movie, which clearly had a lower budget than all of those other movies, was the greatest film of the multiple stories genre.

Maybe it's just because I don't consider "racism bad" a good enough message in a movie for the past two decades (except American History X); I think gun violence, especially in high schools, is one of the most important issues in our country. This movie just managed to get under my skin and rip out emotion from me a lot better than most movies I have seen. This movie should have received the Oscar that Crash won. It was completed before Crash. Forrest Whitaker alone is better than every actor and actress in Crash combined.

Few films pull off the loosely connected people style very well. It annoys me when a movie filled with A-list celebrities gets noticed because of it. American Gun is one of the few that didn't get that notice and deserved it.

It is no "bullet-shit" that the enthralling independent film "American Gun" does fire major points on the American gun control issue within its intertwining plot. However, it is also no "bullet-shit" that "American Gun" did misfire with one of its story lines. A la "Crash", "American Gun" includes various characters within several story lines that focus on a controversial social issue. What struck me about "Crash" was its creative precision to detail on how the social issue (in 'Crash"- racism) all interconnected. In "American Gun" there are separate situations that are "bullet-proof", but hold no fundamental connective qualities on the gun control issue.

Here are my on-target shots of "American Gun": 1) On target: Marcia Gay Harden was mesmerizing as a mother of a fallen youth assailant who murdered several students and teachers in school grounds three years ago. Her story focuses on how she combatively tries to overcome the tragedy , and her challenge to supersede the pain by avidly trying to support her other son. 2) On target: Forest Whitaker's captivating performance as a high school principal who is dealt with the challenge of a youth gun control problem at the school he pilots. In other words, "Run, Forest, Run" before your students run the asylum well-armed. 3) On target: Tony Goldwyn's golden acting duty portraying a police officer who is guilt-ridden that he could not be more proactive in preventing the aforementioned school violence tragedy. 4) On target: Novice Writer-Director Aric Avelino's film-making & screen writing machinery efforts in the School Gun Control and the Grieving Mother/Remorseful Officer story lines.

Here are the misfires of "American Gun": 1) Misfire: Donald Sutherland's phlegmatic performance as a gun owner who tries to connect with his alienated granddaughter. 2) Misfire: The aforementioned storyline which had no relevance or impact to the American gun control issue. In other words, it had me gunning for more.

OK, that's it! I am a gunner , I mean "goner" with this one! *** Average

From the first time I heard about the movie, I've been waiting to see it. I finally saw it earlier tonight after begging my mother to order the movie on DEMAND. Like my title implies, the film ended too soon. I knew beforehand that it was only 95 minutes, but that's way different than actually watching it.

The characters - no matter how awful or sweet - somehow makes you love them in one way or another. You can't help but me sympathetic to each situation, because every character has something to offer. You will walk away learning something, no doubt.

To the ones who say they're tired of intertwining stories or whatever, this is one of the best films you could ever hope to witness with your own two eyes.

This movie is a true tale. I live like these characters almost everyday and I know people like that. So please give it a chance before you rag. I promise you won't regret it.