Gus Van Sant's Constant Thematic and Cinematic Elements
The differences in these films could not be more blatant, and yet Gus Van Sant has found a way to portray the same messages and use the same techniques in each.

A mockumentary in 8 episodes: new solutions and thinking models, which will be with us in the near future and make the world a little more livable. An "active health insurance", in which the insured directly take over everything including medical activities and thus save costs. A new currency that expires in a few weeks and therefore stimulates spending. Unemployed people who, as "loan siblings", are given a new job and a good life. The traffic therapy group that wants to make you understand the snake as a "unitary organism". A therapy office in the fresh air, which finally gives musty psychotherapy a healthy freedom. Color the world back into balance, at least in the parking lot. Or use humans as a self-sufficient source of energy. Or a tangibly equal democracy: All people attain the same eye level, an optimal 1.9m [via platform shoes].
The differences in these films could not be more blatant, and yet Gus Van Sant has found a way to portray the same messages and use the same techniques in each.
If you are a discerning movie watcher and/or an African-American with a modicum of Black consciousness, this film isn’t for you. It would be better to watch the documentary ‘They Fight’ to see the impactful, emotional story of Walter Manigan and the young men of DC’s Ward 8.
Kat Wahlen’s The Whiteboard tells, or rather shows, a delightful love story between two young women who meet in detention.
The trouble with Yara (2021) is that in its attempt to tell the whole story, it struggles to tell a consistently engaging story.
Rare in the days of franchise sequels and indie horror films that dominate the screen in 2026, Netflix’s latest original release, Remarkably Bright Creatures, is a feel-good family movie that leaves nothing to be desired except tissues. Starring Sally Field and Lewis Pullman as two cleaners at a small-town aquarium, Remarkably Bright Creatures reminds viewers that humans are social animals whose strength comes not from our intelligence or our opposable thumbs, but from each other.
The live-action remake brings adventure and shows viewers why representation is important in a Disney Princess movie.