Paranoid Park (2008)

Best movie ever!

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Gus Van Sant does it again, although it took me a while to get into the film. But the combining of some classical ditties en peculiar shots and close-ups and the (crime) story, including a gruesome horror scene filmed from above, reminded me of good old Hitchcock, more specifically 'Psycho' (1960)... an actual shower scene can be no coincidence then, right? Well, we all knew how big a fan Van Sant was of that film.Furthermore, there's an extraordinary and fun choice of songs ('I can help' by Billy Swan, for instance), a series of 'hallway'-scenes reminiscent of Van Sant's earlier 'Elephant' (2003) and a fine build-up through an ingenious play with time and that notebook that keeps popping up everywhere.Unfortunately, I wasn't very much convinced by the acting, Gabe Nevins would seem more in place as a poster-boy for some big jeans brand or something. It was mostly the talent of Van Sant which I enjoyed here.A solid 7 out of 10.

Gus Van Sant once again shows his interest in adolescent angst and solitude in Paranoid Park, a film about a skater kid who accidentally kills a security guard near one of his skate parks, and must then live with the guilt. It's an observation of one teenagers quiet and moody life as it spirals out of control in a haunting dream like state that tries to capture the audience in a trance, but I'm not sure that it succeeded in doing so.There's a very specific style to Paranoid Park that is full of eerily calm and dreamy cinematography. This style tries very hard to work how Van Sant wants it to, but for me it really didn't translate to much more than blank stares and meaningless long shots. I can clearly see what the filmmakers were going for here but it ended up being more obnoxious than captivating. There's obvious talent at work here, but what sounded good on paper or felt great in the minds eye didn't transfer to celluloid quite as well.One thing I can commend Paranoid Park on is it's overall story and the unique narrative style in which it is all presented. The film is narrated by our protagonist, Alex, whose narration is actually part of a letter that he is writing throughout the movie. Because Alex isn't a writer his letter is a little out of order, as is the story and the events that play out in the film. We see certain events multiple times as Alex tells them in his own scatter brained fashion and this way of telling the story makes it more enthralling and much more personal. Throughout the plot there is some silly logic and pretty dumb moments, but as a story it is told very well.But there are many things holding the film back. The overly stylistic cinematography gets in the way and the overly subdued, practically catatonic acting detracts from everything else that is decent about the film. Paranoid Park isn't a disaster by any means, but it has it's fair share of issues that keep it from being that great of a film.

When I saw Gus Van Sant's Palme d'Or winning film, Elephant, I was left contemplating the experience of it all. It was truly a unique film, mainly because it painted the school shooting story in an impressionistic light. The fact that we weren't provided with loads of character development unusually assisted the picture in its goal of being a "whatever you want it to be" kind of film. You were allowed to try and justify the actions of the characters, and try to pick out subtle symbolism throughout the film.Now, here is Paranoid Park, a film not miles behind Elephant in its tone, plot, and message. We are met with Alex (Gabe Nevins), a sixteen year old skateboarder, with a plethora of heavy baggage. He frequents a skatepark nicknamed "Paranoid Park," because of the rumor that there are bodies buried directly under all the ramps, rails, and jumps. One night, Alex and his friend are jumping aboard a freight train to hang along for the ride, when a security guard races to try and get them off by swatting at the boys with his flashlight. Alex impulsively hits him with his skateboard, causing the security to fumble backwards on another set of railroad tracks, directly in the path of an oncoming train, before he is split in half in a gruesome yet well-executed sequence.Alex makes an attempt to destroy the evidence, but can't destroy his melancholic expression he wears so often or his continuous reclusive actions in a tumultuous environment. Fear, regret, and denial encapsulates him so much so that his relationship with the attractive and offbeat, Jennifer (Taylor Momsen) is threatened. Alex states that she is a virgin, with means she'll be looking for sex soon enough. Alex is also continuously questioned by a local detective, who is rounding up all the skateboarders at his high school to try and see who was at the park the night of the murder and who may have some much-needed information.Keep in mind, I gave you the abridged version of the plot. Much of the film is disjointed and non-linear, meaning we'll see sequences that happen from one night, skip to the present or another night, and then eventually return to that first night. At first, it's a little hard to figure out the coherency or the setup, but it manages to work out in the film's favor towards the second and third acts. The biggest problem with the film is its impressionistic roots. It seems Gus Van Sant desperately wanted to make this fit in with Elephant, but the result is hokey. In Elephant, it was a brave picture mainly because we weren't provided with cliché lectures between the principal, parents, or teachers and the shooters, nor did we have any justification or even a catharsis for the tragic events. They happened and, like with most shootings, we are left to our own wits and our vague understanding to formulate an opinion. Being that we're toying with a film that sort of relies on character empathy and some substantial development, the slowburn, impressionistic style isn't always the best route for a film like this.But it manages to recoup and hold itself up for most of the picture. One minor detail that shouldn't go unnoticed is the unique and impressive Super 8-filmed skateboarding sequences featuring Alex and his friends. They are well nuanced and fit in nicely to the film as a whole. Another element, taken again from Elephant, are the long tracking shots where elegant music is played and dialog is not heard. The shots are sort of used without purpose here, where in Elephant, they depicted cold monotony and repetition in the life of the schoolkids. They, still, are rather nice and eerily calming to watch here.While the impressionism is a tad hokey and the execution sort of flounders in parts, Paranoid Park is a strong drama, showing us, yet again, that teenagers, this time skateboarders who are sometimes unfairly ostracized as punks and societal degenerates, aren't prone to pressure, anxiety, turmoil, and neglect. Sant writes and directs the film with surefire confidence, again establishing that he doesn't care what you learn or take from it, he just wants you to learn or take something.Starring: Gabe Nevins, Taylor Momsen, Jake Miller, Daniel Liu, Lauren McKinney, and Scott Patrick Green. Directed by: Gus Van Sant.

I bought the movie after reading the book that the movie is based off of the book which I have read tons of times, each time appreciating it more and more. Sadly, however, this movie disappointed me drastically. It says it is rated R for sexual content, but in the only scene where there is sex going on, it is pretty much just a PG-13 scene. Nothing real exciting. You see the main actor and his "girlfriend" getting ready to have sex, and then the next scene is after they have done the deed. Also, the "disturbing images" might be disturbing to children, but in today's society, the people who watch this movie would see more disturbing images on TV, and on movies with lower MPAA ratings. I will admit the language is pretty bad, but nothing I didn't hear on a day-to-day basis in high school. Overall, in my honest opinion, this movie failed at doing justice to the amazing book Paranoid Park.