Paranoid Park

Alex, a teenage skateboarder, accidentally kills a security guard in the vicinity of Paranoid Park, a skate grounds on the outskirts of Portland. Rather than report the incident to the police, Alex decides to say nothing. This thin plot is stretched for an hour and seventeen minutes, as Gus Van Sant's camera following his amateur actors over the course of a couple of days. Many viewers will be left bored, and find the story thin and undramatic, but I enjoyed it. Gus Van Sant's intentions, I think, are to treat skateboarding as a form of escapism. Like drugs, alcohol or even film, skateboarding is Alex's way of escaping his dysfunctional family and depressing life. The boys at Paranoid Park are his kindred spirits. He feels comfortable around them. They all understand his pain. As such, Van Sant tries to portray skateboarding as a dreamy, slow, sort of ethereal trance. He wants us to know that skateboarding is like being lost in drugs, alcohol or even a good piece of literature. This is how Alex escapes the world. Van Sant's second point is that all the problems in the film are simply due to a lack of communication. The plot itself is merely a metaphor for this theme. Alex feels troubled and trapped simply because he doesn't talk about the crime he committed. Likewise, he's forced into having sex with his girlfriend because he lets her do all the talking and he has problems with his parents because he never opens up to them. His parents themselves have marital problems because they fail to meaningfully communicate. Throughout the film, character's constantly misunderstand one another, or simply lie to avoid having to talk about something uncomfortable. Not only do they fail to communicate, but they fail to properly articulate their feelings and pain. Alex then meets Macy, that compassionate female character who seems to pop up in all of Van Sant's "death films". Right away, she senses that there is something wrong with him. She sees the pain in Alex and recommends that he write his troubles down to get his problems off his chest. Alex does this (communicates to the audience) and the film ends. The film has several flaws. Firstly, the way Gus Van Sant portrays skateboarding (a drug like daze) doesn't work. It just feels cheap. Secondly, his idea of Alex's confessional letter being the film fabric itself, feels half thought out. Alex writes his letter bit by bit, and the film takes this fractured approach. "Elephant" was structured in a similar way, but felt more confident. Thirdly, the story is too thin. The film is only an hour and seventeen minutes long, and yet at least ten minutes of the film feels like pointless padding. Still, there's a lot of strong stuff here. Like "Gerry", "Last Days" and "Elephant", Van Sant uses amateur actors, which lends the film an interesting edge. Also his cinematography (by long time Wong Kar Wai cinematographer Chris Doyle) is always interesting. Despite it's failures, "Paranoid Park" is a great little morality tale. Gus Van Sant seems to have tapped into the whole teenage-angst thing. His characters are all lost, trapped in an uncaring, unforgiving modern world, their parents distant and literally out of focus. They have nobody to turn to. Nobody to talk to. Nobody to console them. And like Paul Newman says at the end of "Cool Hand Luke", all these problems are simply due to man's failure to meaningfully communicate. Our failure to properly empathise and our inability to ever know what's going on in another person's head. We're all trapped in our own little boxes, with our own little problems, and rather than reach out and share our pain, we bottle it up, thinking we're all alone. Gus Van Sant wants us to know that by sharing out problems and by helping one another, we'd have a lot less to worry and a lot less to be guilty of. 7.9/10 - A heavily flawed but well meaning film, made by an honest artist.

this movie is honestly the worst piece of rubbish i have ever seen. this is slow, plot less and boring. the cinematographer deserved to be shot. There were various aspects of unintentional comedy, one of which was Jared being oddly camp. Raised many laughs but also many yawns. don't watch with anyone, anytime any place. If u hate someone, recommend they buy or rent this. big waste of time and money. Thanks Gus Van Sant...not. i cant think of anything else to say except Don't ever see this movie, it will make u want to jump off a cliff. Hope Gus and his mates read this comment before it's too late and he makes a sequel or some other catastrophe with what appeared to be shot with a camera phone.

Unless you want to be bored half to death. I've never been a fan of Gus Van Sant and as part of what previous posters have described as the new youth generation i was very disappointed and slightly angry at the stereotypical depiction of the characters in the film especially as they were used to string along the film's ridiculous storyline which is pretty much enforcing to the viewing masses that skateboarders are social rejects and should be blamed for crimes. As a skater myself i watch a lot of skate films and the filming during the skate scenes, which is obviously a major part of the plot as the lead protagonist is a skateboarder, was awful and Bourne identity esquire shaky camera technique was used with slow motion to give a horrible effect. This film is just full of ridiculous stereotypes as shown by the 'emo' soundtrack which just adds to the media myth that all skateboarders are white rockers. Simply just a really bad film.

I just saw this movie in a preview screening and felt compelled to write my honest comments here, as the movie was absolutely terrible and there are loads of dishonest high ratings being given to this film on here (must be people from the film company). This film does not even deserve a 1 out of 10, but there is no option on IMDb to give it 0. The movie is the most boring and tedious I have ever had to sit through. I can't believe that this movie was actually released - it feels more like a failed student film project at school. Most of the movie has terrible music, and tries to be artistic with the constant monotonous camera work - it doesn't work. The whole movie is devoid of all skill, direction, thought, ideas, script, story, acting - the list really goes on. The people who made this movie should be locked up so they can't release anything ever again - seriously. Half the people in the cinema walked out, and the rest of us who endured it were visibly shocked and numbed at how bad the movie was. Everyone in the entire cinema was talking openly about how terrible the movie was. I have seen some pretty bad movies in my time, but nothing, and I do mean 'nothing' as bad as this. Don't waste your time and effort going to see this - avoid it at all costs. All of you people who have lied and given this movie 10 out of 10 - I really don't know how you sleep at night...

I've been a fan of Van Sant's films for a while now. I guess I could boil this interest down to the college influence. Art, in any form (but especially cinema), seems to resonate with my generation (1980's on). This film is the third in what I see as a three part series (the first two being Elephant and Last Days). All three surprisingly depict the attitude of the contemporary youth in a way that no other films have been able to do. I say surprisingly because it strikes me as odd that Van Sant would be able to so accurately capture the thoughts, feelings and attitudes of such a misunderstood generation. So often, parents of these children say such things as, "we did that when we were your age," or, "I can relate to what you are going through," but what these parents often fail to recognize is that although the things we encounter may be similar the times as Bob Dylan would say, "are a changin'." To capture the particular mindset of the youth of today is a feat in itself, but to do so and provide entertainment as well deserves at least a brief look. The film Paranoid Park itself seems to capture this way of thinking better than the previous two films. What starts as a simple rant about the modern youth becomes so much more. At first, you might find yourself thinking that the movie is somber,or perhaps unrealistic as the circumstances of the action are strange, but as you continue watching it the message that is trying to be conveyed becomes clear. This could have been you. This could have been me. It could have been you child, or the kid down the street. The common themes of teen flicks of drugs, sex, and rock and roll are pushed aside to highlight the internal strife of the protagonist. The "emo" music and distinctive fashion of this generational subculture seem all too real, and in the end you are left feeling as the main character does: silent and alone. Is this a movie about hope? I'm not sure. What I am sure about is that it deserves a chance. Paranoid Park could best be described as a much needed break from mainstream cinema, but more important, a film that might just make you think.

"Paranoid Park" is about what is going on in the head of a teenage boy after he has experienced a shattering trauma. He is dislocated and remote and 'not all there', or is he just in shock? It really is up to the audience to decide for themselves, because in an experimental movie like this one, no easy answers are forthcoming. In general I quite like Gus Van Sant's films, but be aware that you need to judge each of his films on their own merits. This is hardly the Gus Van Sant of Hollywoodian mild indie fare like "To Die For", "Psycho", "Good Will Hunting" or "Finding Forrester". Stylistically "Paranoid Park" is a close cousin to his later "Elephant". Low key, quiet, internalised, sometimes naturalistic, but often dreamy, and with a chronologically fractured time line. None of the actors seemed to be acting at all. Brilliant casting or brilliant acting? I am unsure. Not for everybody.

One of my biggest fears (or phobias) has always been getting caught for something I didn't do. Then there might be 'wrong time, wrong place.' Something not really bad suddenly snowballs. You use a swear word and your dad starts shouting and he crashes the car and there's a big pile up and it's all your fault. Or a kind word gets taken the wrong way and suddenly everyone in the bar is throwing punches. Basically good guys don't always go to heaven, that's my worry. Paranoid Park isn't a real park. Or rather it's a real skateboard park but the name is just made up by the kids there. It's the place where all the top skaters go. Alex is a good kid from the nice side of town. He skates a lot but doesn't know if he's really ready for Paranoid Park. That place is pretty intense. Alex borrows his mother's car but parks it on the opposite side of the river if he goes there. So it won't get damaged. A policeman at the school is asking questions. A security guard has been found dead near the rail tracks. Maybe murder. The tracks run close to Paranoid Park. Did anyone see anything? There are so many remarkable things about this unusual movie. Let's starts with the acting and characterisation. Here Director Gus Van Sant gives us characters that actors of many years' experience would be proud of. The kids in the movie don't have that - in fact most of them were recruited through MySpace. What we get though is a sense of their interior lives. All the kids - Alex, his girlfriend Jennifer, most of their friends, come from a world where being a teenager is the reality. That means your hobbies and interests are the day-to-day world, goals for the future figure somewhere, and adults are pretty peripheral. Adults exist and perform certain functions but are not that interesting. The adults in the film (like those in Rebel Without a Cause) are fairly one-dimensional. But unlike most teen-pics, the children here do not seem angry, overly rebellious, or addicted to sex and drugs and rock and roll. Nor are they stupid. They are convincingly normal teenagers, very real. They could be your children. The 'world' of skateboarding or rather Alex's mental narrative - is skilfully woven from the start. Not by boring the pants off us with long displays of skate board skill, but rather by associational editing, soundscapes and inventive use of cameras and formats. We see and feel how this hobby, through the skaters' eyes, produces a high akin to drugs or music. By making Alex's perspective so real for us, his sparse lines throw us back on what he is thinking. We are closer to him than the adults in his world. More like a sibling. More like someone who knows and believes you when you are so honest and frank, and also stands next to you when you have your fingers crossed behind your back . . . Our soundscapes are made up of gentle, electronic, ambient sounds. A dreamy woman's voice whispers something in French. Cinematography is by Christopher Doyle (In the Mood for Love). The sun through blades of grass near the shore and we skip between Super 8 and 35mm, hand-held cameras and stable frames. The ethereal and unreal becomes the bedrock of our world. Just as the basis of puberty is change. Adults can be sidelined in a way that just stops short of being contrived. When Alex is talking to his mother or father, they stay out of focus or out of frame for quite a long time into the conversation. When the mystery is revealed it happens with operatic intensity, yet our emotion is held back until Alex can deal with it in his own way. The way the film evokes a moist eye from probably everyone in the theatre and suddenly stops will upset those wanting a more conventional structure. But it will still manage to satisfy far more people than might otherwise venture into such an art-based film. As one of the characters says to Alex, "No-one's ever really ready for Paranoid Park."

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source: Paranoid Park

Gus Van Sant has given us an interesting character to work with, one that wouldn't usually be given notice as a lead character outside of stupid teen-parody movies. The skater boy. Gabe Nevins, at first look, is a little stale as Alex, but as the film progresses you see this as being part of his character. He doesn't relay too much emotion, while at the same time giving us glimpses of the complexity of our semi-hero. Taylor Momsen of "Gossip Girl" plays a very realistic, self-absorbed teenage *, while Lauren McKinney shows the more awkward and fragile side of adolescent females. But the real strength here lies in Van Sant's wonderful depiction of skateboarding as not a slacker sport as it is so often dismissed, but an art equal to ballet in its grace and intricacy. At times the movie feels a little tedious, and there are long stretches of it that don't seem very interesting. So while I wouldn't say it's a gripping drama, it's a great little indie flick that's worth watching.