Dir: Aric Avelino. US.2005. 95mins.

A sombre portrait ofmodern American society, Aric Avelino's debut picture looks like anotherversion of Paul Haggis' Crash, realised in the shadow of Gus Van Sant's Elephant.Shot in episodic form, with each story only vaguely related to the others - ifat all - Avelino and Steven Bagatourian's screenplay concentrates on theintegration of firearms into the American ethos, with all the pain and miserythis inflicts on each individual involved. Characters include a schoolprincipal, a distraught mother and her son, a student working nights in aliquor store and a gun dealer.

But while Avelino draws fineperformances from across his ensemble, the real plot seems to have has beenmislaid, leaving a feeling of what might have been an exciting movie.

Dedicated marketing effortswill be necessary for American Gun to realise healthy potential,although it should enjoy good chances on limited theatrical release and farbetter ones on ancillary.

From the start the variousepisodes start jostling with each other for space on-screen; each will beeventually be expanded upon in due course, but in the meantime they areintercut with their rivals.

In one strand Carter(Whitaker), the head master of a high school in a turbulent, crime-riddenneighbourhood - which he came to from a better job - believes that his presencecan make a difference. Running his school with an iron fist, he leaves nodetail untended, fighting students and teachers alike to preserve the standardshe thinks are necessary. By the time he gets home, late at night, he hasneither the time nor the inclination to pay attention to his own family.

Jay (Escarpeta) is one ofhis better students, but every night he goes off to sell liquor in a fortifiedstore, where chances of survival without a gun are hardly great.

Meanwhile Janet (Harden), asingle mother, is still trying to escape the trauma three years ago when hereldest son opened fire on his school mates and teachers before being killed bythe police. She works double shifts to provide a better future for her secondson, David (Marquette), who has an equally hard time being the brother of anotorious murderer.

For his part Frank (Goldwyn)was the first policeman on the premises when the school tragedy happened and isstill haunted by it.

Finally, there is Carl(Sutherland), a kind old man, who owns a firearms shop and who is interested intheir mechanics and workings rather than the use to which they are put. MaryAnn (Cardellini) is his grand-daughter, living with him because her family haddecided she has to go to college nearby - but who hates the experience.

The script hops from onecharacter to the next, highlighting incidents in their everyday lives which,while too minor to change each individual life, combine to portray aself-destructive society with little hope.

By the end several of thelead characters simply give up and run for cover; others have their hopesshattered by arbitrary violence; others continue living the same desolateexistence with no prospects for a better future.

Despite the feeling thateverything happening is mainly the prologue for a major catastrophe yet tocome, first-time director Avelino deserves full credits for milking every scenefor all its dramatic potential, goading the cast into powerful performances.

Of note are Harden'sconfrontations with her son (sensitively played by Marquette) Whitaker'sobsessed principal (too busy to realise what he is really doing to himself) andCardellini's subdued interpretation of a teenager out of her depth.

Nervous editing - at timesexcessively so - and abrupt jumps between stories occasionally unsettle, butNancy Schreiber's camera is always in the right place at the right time, evencreating a different palette for each one of the episodes.

Production companies
IFC Films
Participant Pilms

International sales
Pathe Pictures International

Executive producers
Jeff Skoll
Chris Adams
Forest Whitaker
Jonathan Sehring
Caroline Kaplan
Holly Becker

Producer
Ted Korber

Screenplay
Aric Avelino
Steve Bagatourian

Cinematography
Nancy Schreiber

Editor
Richard Nord

Production design
Deborah Herbert

Music
Peter Golub

Main cast
Donald Sutherland
Forest Whitaker
Marcia Gay Harden
Linda Cardellini
Tony Godlwyn
Arlen Escarpeta
Christopher Marquette