It starts out as a normal day at a typical American high school. Friends gossip in the cafeteria. A young photographer snaps portraits for his portfolio. A shy girl endures taunts from classmates in the locker room.

But at the end of "Elephant," Gus Van Sant’s new film at the Cannes Film Festival, two students go on a shooting rampage in the hallways. And many die.

The "Good Will Hunting" director’s movie, a fictional account of a school shooting, takes an intimate look at a few hours in the lives of the victims and the killers.

It’s a very different take on school violence than Michael Moore offered in "Bowling for Columbine," a hit at Cannes last year. Moore’s film searched for the roots of violence in America by looking at everything from school shootings to racism to the National Rifle Association.

Van Sant doesn’t offer any reasons for why school violence happens. The message is about how precious teenage lives are: He picked real high school students to act, and he captured their passions, insecurities, awkwardness and beauty.

"We tried to not really specifically explain such a ... horrific event," Van Sant said Sunday. "I was really trying to get out more a poetic impression and sort of allow the audiences’ thoughts into that impression."

For Van Sant, the film harks back to the small, lower-budget movies he once made. In Portland, Oregon, Van Sant found a decommissioned school for filming and held an open casting call.

The movie was shot in 20 days. There were no scripted lines, and the students improvised their dialogue, with Van Sant asking them to base their characters on their own lives.

With long tracking shots, the movie shadows several students who are targeted later. One confident, athletic boy flirts with his girlfriend in the hallway. A shy girl shelves books at the library.

It also follows the two boys who eventually carry out the shooting spree. In many ways, they act like ordinary kids. They joke around with one boy’s mother as she serves them pancakes. One plays Beethoven’s "Fur Elise" on the piano while they hang out.

There are hints of the anger they feel. One of the boys is bullied by a student who throws spitballs at him. The other plays a violent video game. But the director’s touch is light: Van Sant isn’t blaming their massacre on either bullying or violent video games. Instead, he offers issues to think about.