Movies: Gus Van Sant

The life and struggles of a notorious rock musician seeping into a pit of loneliness whose everyday life involves friends and family seeking financial aid and favors, inspired by rock music legend Kurt Cobain and his final hours....

Two friends named Gerry become lost in the desert after taking a wrong turn. Their attempts to find their way home only lead them into further trouble....

It's San Francisco in 1957, and an American masterpiece is put on trial. Howl, the film, recounts this dark moment using three interwoven threads: the tumultuous life events that led a young Allen Ginsberg to find his true voice as an artist, society...

A girl born with enormous thumbs in the repressive era of the 1950s learns to turn her quirks into assets....

Two outsiders, both shaped by the circumstances that have brought them together, forge a deep and lasting love....

Walt is a lonely convenience store clerk who has fallen in love with a Mexican migrant worker named Johnny. Though Walt has little in common with the object of his affections — including a shared language — his desire to possess Johnny prompts a sexu...

A sheriff sees his state senate bid slide out onto the ice when his daughter begins to date the son of a charming but psychologically disturbed woman with whom the sheriff has engaged in a two-decade-long affair....

The controversial true story of a gay activist who rejects his homosexuality and becomes a Christian pastor....

Filmmaker Jonathan Caouette's documentary on growing up with his schizophrenic mother -- a mixture of snapshots, Super-8, answering machine messages, video diaries, early short films, and more -- culled from 19 years of his life....

Over the years, Nicole Kidman, Oscar and two-time Emmy Award winner, became both a pop culture icon & a complex dramatic actress. Her career is a unique body of work that mirrors her personal life, which is more political than it might seem....

There are dysfunctional families... and then there are the Conways. After a family tragedy, 15-year-old Billy Conway has become the de facto glue between his bitter mom, distant brother, and stoic dad. But when Billy starts to act out, everything cha...

A riveting and emotional journey into the world of writer William S. Burroughs, a man considered as cold as an iceberg on a winter night....

It unfolds over eight days of sleep-deprived chaos and follows Jack, a down-on-his-luck fitness expert living with his mother in Los Angeles, who takes a maniacal swing at fame and fortune, trying to realize his version of the American dream....

A chronological look at films by, for, or about gays and lesbians in the United States, from 1947 to 2005, Kenneth Anger's "Fireworks" to "Brokeback Mountain". Talking heads, anchored by critic and scholar B. Ruby Rich, are interspersed with an advan...

8 shorts centered around 8 themes directed by 8 famous film directors involved and sharing their opinion on progress, on the set-backs and the challenges our planet faces today....

A lyrical telling of the coming of age of a 14-year-old boy who learns to cope with his new found sexuality and his unrequited love for the cool kid in school....

Fresh out of foster care at age 18, a young drifter turns to petty crime to survive, and discovers an impossible love in an unlikely friend....

A naive drifter runs away from his army father in hopes of making it on the car racing circuit. In Las Vegas, he meets a young scam artist, who develops a crush on him. He is then introduced to a whole gang led by a young hustler. The racer-to-be the...

An essay based on photographs and videos taken during the Gus Van Sant retrospective held at La Casa Encendida during 2018. Perhaps a glorified powerpoint....

Nigel Nado, the notable documentary filmmaker, is trying to make a movie about some people trying to make a movie. But everything is going wrong. The subject of his documentary, the western 'Guns on the Clackamas' is plagued with problems. The lead a...