Gerry

Gerry is the first film of the Death Trilogy by Gus Van Sant (the second film being Elephant) and roughly based on the true story of David Coughlin and Raffi Kodikian.

Gerry tells the story of Gerry and Gerry who go hiking in New Mexico to see "the thing" at the end of the trail. Eventually they get lost.

At the end of this one hundred minute feature Gerry kills Gerry.

Inbetween those two points... well, this film is a minimalist as a film could possibly get, having limited dialogue, a bare-bones plot and a cast of two, Matt Damon and Casey Affleck.

Tropes used in Gerry include:

• Beautiful Void
• Bittersweet Ending: Gerry (Affleck) gets killed by Gerry, who finds the road and gets picked up by a car and survives.
• Character Title: "Gerry" is also a slang term that the actors used (who helped write it) as a term for "screwing up".
• Gallows Humor: As Gerry and Gerry lay down in the middle of nowhere, about to die:

"How do you think the hike is going so far?"

• Mercy Kill: At the end Gerry (Damon) kills the other Gerry so he doesn't have to die of dehydration.
• Minimalism
• Minimalist Cast
• The Oner: Multiple. A famous one is he seven minute shot of Gerry and Gerry slowly walking as the sun rises.
• One Steve Limit: Gerry and Gerry. This doesn't get confusing in the film as there's only the two of them.
• Scenery Porn: Lots and lots of gorgeous mountains.
• Silence Is Golden: There is some dialogue, a lot of it with swearing, but there is almost no soundtrack.

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"But I would walk 500 miles, And I would walk 500 more..."