Instruct: Classify Amazon reviews into positive or negative sentiment
Query: Flat

Gus Van Sant's exercise in documentary-style filmmaking takes on a difficult subject (high school shootings) but goes no further than detachment and cliche. There are the bullied kids. The "in" girls (they vomit in unison after eating in the cafeteria). The shy girl who works in the library. Etc. Van Sant doesn't seem to care enough to attach any depth to his characters, and he allots them only such prefuntory moments on screen so that we know who they are when they get gunned down. A film like this makes a viewer reconsider the director's entire career. Was there anything there at all, to begin with? Or were we just giving him the benefit of the doubt? What is his exulted reputation based on? Drugstore Cowboy? This film, and his other recent work, for certain, is vacant, and feels like an exercise rather than a fully-realized piece of art. His choice of subject matter seems less brave than mere exploitation, and for that reason is maddening.