Time frame in "Elephant" (Van Sant) - spoilers

Cafe Society
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This weekend I bought the film “Elephant,” directed by Gus Van Sant. The second time I watched it, I noticed that something was weird with the time frame.

The tagline of the film, “An ordinary high school day. Except that it’s not,” and the description on the back of the DVD cover lead me to believe that the events in the film take place in a single day. However, following the activity of Alex and Eric (the two gunmen) shows that this is not the case. I realize the film is not in chronological order, but that just throws me off more.

Here’s what happens (this is loosely in the order it’s presented in the movie):
-Jon arrives at school. Later that day, he sees Eric and Alex walk into the school with their guns and they tell him to “get the fuck out and never come back.” Alex is wearing all black, Eric is wearing camoflage.
-Some guy throws crap on Alex during chemistry. Alex is wearing a red t-shirt and jeans.
-Alex writes his “plan” in his notebook in the cafeteria.
-Alex goes home and drinks some milk.
-Alex plays piano at his house. Eric comes over and plays a computer game. Alex orders a gun off the internet.
-Alex and Eric sleep.
-Alex and Eric eat breakfast. The gun arrives in the mail. They try it out in Alex’s shed.
-They take a shower together. They go over their plans.
-They change clothes to the black/camo. They go to school and proceed with their plan.

Now, let’s ignore the fact that the gun couldn’t be shipped directly to them (the gun would be shipped to a licensed firearms dealer where they would have to then do a background check before selling it to Alex). When did they order the gun? Was that the afternoon before? How could it arrive at the house the next morning?

I’m thinking that Alex getting bullied, writing his plan, and ordering the gun all happened in the same day. Then the events with Jon, Elias, Michelle, and the three girls happened another day farther in the future than just the next morning–the same day that Eric and Alex brought the guns to school. However, this isn’t entirely clear in the film. It looks like the events happened within two days right in a row, if not one. The bullying, plan-writing, and gun-ordering–are those flashbacks?

This has been bugging me for the past couple days. I plan on watching the film again soon so I can gain more insight into the time frame. Any other discussion on this film is welcome.

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That’s the idea I got as well, although I suppose they could be flashbacks. I only saw it once, so I’m sure there are things I missed.
This film got less than stellar reviews from my friends that saw it, but I liked it alot, and recommend it. And I’m looking forward to what someone who has studied the film more than me has to say about the timeframe.

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I haven’t seen it since last fall, I might ammend this interpretation with another viewing.

As I watched the film the only scene that I thought was a flashback was the ordering of the rifle. I thought everything else was the same day (Actually, I thought the delivery and practicing with the rifle were flashback as well). It seemed to me that they went to school at the start of the school day, left during the day to go back home, then went back to school.

Again, I haven’t seen it in a while but that was the impression I got.