Paranoid Park

When I was a teenager, having a sleepover with friends, we would sometimes tell ghost stories. The first thing you do is turn out the light to create the proper mood. Then you lower your voice, occasionally seizing upon certain words or phrases, using inflection or tonal shifts to make the story a little creepier. At the end you might raise your voice suddenly in an effort to startle your listeners. My point in bringing all this up is to defend this film against those who say the writer/director wastes time with shots or scenes that "have no point." While "Paranoid Park" is not a ghost story (it's a drama), the fundamentals of good story telling can still apply. A director can use lighting, camera technique, staging, etc. to create the proper mood, tone and atmosphere. This particular movie is ALL about feelings and emotions. If the viewer allows himself to become immersed, he will no doubt feel what the character on screen is feeling. If, however, the viewer expects this movie to play out as a typical cinematic experience, refusing to just let it wash over him, he will become impatient. One imagines him saying at a sleepover, "Why did you waste time turing out the light?! Just get to the point!"

I enjoy Gus van Sant's other work, so I figured I would like this film as well. I was right. I enjoyed the story and the skating videos that were interlaced with the narrative equally. The long shots can be boring, as some people mentioned, but they always felt poignant to me and visually or conceptually interesting in some way or another. I think the movie was an excellent portrayal of the difficulty one has in creating a narrative of a troubling event. While the acting wasn't great, I actually feel it worked to convey the teenager and skater vibe. Of course, the Elliott Smith music was a major plus.

I read the book, which is your basic average lo-qual 'teen fiction' - America should be embarrassed by the level of prose we feed our kids, I read more challenging stuff than this when I was 6 - and wanted to see the movie because a) it's about skaters, and b) Taylor Mumsen's in it.The skating is the best part of the movie, instead of pros you get actual kids doing things actual kids actually do at the skate park.Another positive is the fact that the director uses real teenagers to portray teenagers, as opposed to most American films and TV shows, which tend to give such roles to people in their 20's or even 30's.The acting may not be top-notch, but it's REAL, almost like a documentary rather than a dramatized movie.Taylor Mumsen's part is, disappointingly, very small.The progression of the story is very jumbled, sort of like a series of flashbacks in reverse, might confuse people who haven't read the book.The result feels more like a European 'art' film, but since someone has a gun and someone gets killed, it is definitely American.

The novel by blake Nelson is much more interesing and thrilling than Gus van Stant's film. The latter does not succeed in conveying the protagonist's moral turmoil and the pressure exerted on him by the investigator's pretended friendliness and his continuous attempt to make the protagonist blab and give himself away. It also lacks the reader's/viewer's surprising recognition that all the letters have been written to Macy Mc Laughlin - the girl the narrator has always seemed to hate.What the film contains is an irritating amount of music which hardly ever fits the scene it goes with, drowning out even the most important dialogues.

Buyer Beware! This blu-ray was manufactured in England which uses the PAL T.V. system which is not compatible with the NTSC system we have here in the U.S. The movie is an exceptional blu-ray presentation, but the extra features were not done in high def therefore they are the PAL system and cannot be viewed on our T.V. sets. I will say this, even though Amazon was not aware of this they were willing to let me return the DVD for a full refund. Since I love the film and would not watch the bonus features that much (who does anyway) I am going to keep this high quality disc.

Whilst the premise seemed good, the final execution failed.A young, socially inept boy, who seeks identity in the fantasized (perhaps overstated) world of skaters is forced to face his reality after causing the death of another. The central character (Jake Miller) is much like the movie, somewhat removed and dream-like. He seems as if he is merely part of his world, and his interactions are forced and at times staged. If left alone, and allowed to merely exist I suspect he would be a far happier individual, albeit a consequence of his dysfunctional family. If Gus Van Sant was attempting to portray such dysfunction and its consequence on a young mind, he may have partially succeeded, although I am of the opinion his final product is at times overstated and overstylised.I was not convinced by the characters 'overwhelming guilt', instead I found him to be pathologically removed at times. His lies seemed calculated, as was his interactions with the police. For a displaced young man I found his intentional deception and lack of empathy, substantively revealing and beyond his youthful 'innocence'. Clearly he was either incapable of measuring truth or determined not to accept such. More accurately he finally chooses, and that choice ultimately lacks substance.In the end the movie was a little grey and unsettled. Almost as if Gus Van Sant was more about setting the scene, as opposed to developing the character. The acting was a little naive, although Jake Miller was not bad. I suspect Van Sant wanted a natural, unrehearsed feel for the final product, which ironically had the effect of making those rehearsed scenes seem staged and unnatural.Compared to 'Elephant', 'Mysterious Skin' and 'Brick' this film lacks what others have achieved so well.

Paranoid Park is right up with the best of Gus Van Sant's movies and is especially appreciable in Blu-Ray format. I love everything about it - including the grain of the small gauge film stock and the very carefully crafted surround soundscape, but especially the acting which is 100% convincing - and there's a good reason for that (watch the extra features).It's a hard hitting story which I expect will be most relevant to youth, but there's a universal truth in that we naturally question if there's a limit to how responsible we need to be for our actions - especially if no good for anyone else can be done by confessing. Humans have a surprising capacity to rationalise and move on. A similar point is made in Woody Allen's "Crimes and Misdemeanors", but that's the only similarity between these two very fine films.A must see for any fan of Gus Van Sant.

This film touched me on no level. It's unfinished, left me with the feeling "OK, and...?" The acting is really bad. The lead actor just moves around. His facial expression hasn't changed once through the whole film. And if that's to show how stupified he is about the accident, it just doesn't work. And his friend (a girl, don't remember her name)is even worse. You can see how self-conscious she is while being filmed.I suppose the director wanted to create the contrast between the tragedy that happened and the calmness, every-dayness of the film's tone. I don't know. Maybe not. I'm not a film critic. If that's indeed the case. then it backfired. To me the film feels emotionless and unimportant despite of what happens in it. I don't understand all those stars on the cover. To sum it up, cool name, cool topic, but a lukewarm film.

Gus Van Sant's lovely and in places experimental movie. Shot with elegance by Chris Doyle. Very good DVD edition with wonderful image quality.Not sure whether I would bother with the more expensive Blue-Ray edition.

rubbish