The Delicate Art of the Rifle

If any of you has had the rare opportunity to view this work of what looks like student art....then I suggest you get cable and wait for the Independent Film Channel to give it to you....I've had the weak luck of catching this film on the channel...It follows a common college student and his common day on campus with bizarre stories and visuals...(his friends are just as weird)...And just when you think it's about to get boring.... BLAM!...a sniper(who just so happens to be our leads roomate) is taking out people in the courtyard in a comedic manner... Some of the greatest scenes in the film are on the sniper's roof and all of the philosophical discussions that our poor damaged sniper confesses to our lead in acts of desperation.. The film itself is unique in it's weirdness....

PS:If anybody can find a copy of this for sale...TELL ME WHERE TO GO!...

Yet another fantastic movie that I can't find anywhere. If anyone knows where I can get a copy of it; let me know. I have 2 more lines to fill. Damn, this is a grrreat movie. You really ought to see it. You'll laugh till you pee your chones. College kids are annoying, but this movie isnt; Go figure.

A unique film, drenched in symbolism and dark humor. Moments of visual and narrative brilliance alternate with scenes that reveal the low-budget student film origins of the movie.

A nerdy college student is going through yet another routine day when a rooftop sniper opens fire, and then the student hears his roommate calling from the rooftop, inviting him to come up and join him...

David Grant, lead singer of the punk rock band Action Patrol, stars as the dweebish Jay. Stephen Grant (no relation) wrote the script and plays the role of the shooter. Sci-fi author John Kessel appears in the role of a loquacious professor.

This occasionally airs on the IFC and is definitely worth a viewing when it does. I saw this recently and it's a fine example of the type of challenging film-making and writing that is lacking in independents today.

A sniper takes control of a rooftop of one of the dorms on a college campus - but rather than focus on the obvious tragedy and danger of the situation, the film addresses the everyday aspects of life surrounding it, to comedic effect on occasion. This seems crude and insensitive on the surface- but it plays as something just outside dark comedy with atypical approaches to side story and narration. The narrator and main character, Jay has an unique viewpoint to the ordeal after he witnesses one of his professor's get shot in the quad only to later find out his connection to the sniper responsible. The interesting character of Walt Whitman is portrayed by the writer of the film, Stephen Grant. Campus life and the transitory nature of relationships are playfully foregrounded here and it makes for a far more interesting and unexpectedly entertaining result than you'd expect.

This approach to the subject matter may be something that would never see the light of day as a mainstream film with all the sensitivity to events like Columbine, D.C.sniper from 2001 or even the UT sniper from the 60s but as a low budget indie it works and is worth watching.

I found this film on IFC recently as I was flipping channels and it caught my attention immediately and it really blew me away. The fact that it was made by a first-time writer, director, and mostly first-time actors was even more of a shock. Especially the writing and acting of Stephen Grant (who played Walt Whitman) was absolutely superb. He also bares a resemblance to the actual University of Texas at Austin shooter Charles Whitman of whom the film was based, which makes it all the more chilling (even though the film was set in current times and not 1966). The film has a very surreal feel to it which you can tell was achieved very carefully. Apparently some people say it runs too long but, being a person with a notoriously short attention span, I didn't find myself getting bored at any moment. I would definitely recommend it to any fan of independent film.

7/10.