The Delicate Art of the Rifle

The film is set on a university campus. Jay is a withdrawn student. He has trouble reaching the people around him. A man named Walt Whitman lives in the same building. For a while the two move in the same circle. Walt drifts further away. In the end there is a shooting on the campus. The film tells it through Jay’s eyes. The account is not realistic. The scenes slide into a surreal register. Humour and drama stand together. The character was drawn loosely from an event in 1966. The film says it is not an account of that event. Jay’s own world sits at the centre. Loneliness is the main vein of the story. Gabrielle Greigo and Shannon Gelobter appear in the ninety three minute film, an American production Dante Harper finished in 1996.