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Paranoid Park
Average Customer Review : 3.0/5 based on 13 reviews
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List Price : $19.95
Price : $14.99
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Editorial Reviews
It's hard to believe that a middle-aged filmmaker can fully evoke the chaotic, anxious world of a troubled teenager, but that's what Gus Van Sant has done with Paranoid Park. Alex (newcomer Gabe Nevins), a teenaged boy whose parents are going through a difficult divorce, is drawn to the rough community that's built up around the titular skateboarding park in Portland, Ore. One night, when an older boy is showing him how to hop a freight train, Alex accidentally kills a security guard. The movie captures the before and after by looping back and forth in time, focusing far more closely on Alex's state of mind than the investigation that threatens to close around him. Filmgoers leery of the drawn-out, atmospheric sequences of Van Sant's recent films (like Gerry and Last Days) need not fear; though Paranoid Park favors mood over plot, it successfully balances character, mood, and story, resulting in considerable dramatic tension, similar to Van Sant's meditation on the Columbine shootings, Elephant. This is not a thriller; Paranoid Park pays as much attention to Alex's relationship with his girlfriend Jennifer (Taylor Momsen, Gossip Girl) as to the killing. The result is a vivid, compelling portrait of adolescence, in all its messiness and confusion. This may be Van Sant's best film since his early masterpieces, Drugstore Cowboy and My Own Private Idaho. --Bret Fetzer
Spotlight Reviews
Guilt at Work (2008-12-04)
Customer Review : 3
Basically, this is a movie about a boy who, while hopping a ride on a train, is caught by the railroad watchman. When the watchman starts to attack his friend, Alex hits the watchman with his skateboard, causing him to fall back under the wheels of a coming train. I am sure the movie realistically depicts the uncertainty Alex felt about the situation, but it does not have him in any way deal responsibly with what he'd done. Traditional values parents may want to show this movie to their teens, and discuss what would be the right thing to do if an impulsive act causes irreparable harm. As with most such movies lately, there is plenty of bad language, some sex, and, of course, violence.
Painfully slow Park (2008-11-18)
Customer Review : 2
The two sentence sublot summary intrigued me enough to want to watch this movie. It basically took an hour and a half to tell a five minute story. If that's your thing...lots of slow mow and lingering shots of close ups of people's faces or objects, then you may like this movie. I know some of the shots and "effects" were trying to be artistic but by the end I was yelling at the screen, "get on with it". So, not for everyone but not terrible either. Rent before you buy defintiley.
Horrible Movie (2008-10-27)
Customer Review : 1
Well, this sounded really good, and I bet it made a great book, however the filmmaking and acting was unbearable. You'd get a snippet of story and then like 3-5 minutes of someone walking in slow motion or skateboarding in slow motion...i think we were supposed to be relflecting on the SHOCKING events that were happening in the movie except there weren't any. It was predictable and boring. Maybe if the approach were different and the actors didn't try so hard this would have been better.
Disaffected Youth (2008-10-13)
Customer Review : 4
"Paranoid Park"
Disaffected Youth
Amos Lassen
"Paranoid Park" is Gus Van Sant's film adaptation of Blake Nelson's novel about Portland. It was awarded the 60th Anniversary Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. It is the story of Alex (Gabe Nevins), a young skater who accidentally kills a security guard. Alex, one night, went to Paranoid Park, a skate park that was illegally built by punks, other skaters and disaffected youth. While he was there, Alex was picked up by some unsavory characters and Alex does something terrible. He then tries to cope with the event and writes a letter to one of his friends explaining what happened. Alex searches for a way to formulate his feelings. He is not a typical teenager---he is introspective and quiet and cannot verbally express his feelings.
Paranoid Park is a representation of the place where Alex feels he can belong. He is attracted to the skaters there and he wants to be in their company but he can't seem to find his place. His only real outward expression comes in his writing which are not much more than one-sided dialogues.
This is existential Van Sant as he concerns himself with how young people exist. Alex not only has to cope with what he has done but with his parents' divorce and his girlfriend who is both superficial and sexually forward. He is unable to express himself. "Paranoid Park" is Van Sant's version of "Crime and Punishment" and torment from within. The film is unpredictable and Nevins as Alex is a real find. The story is unique and holds the interest of the viewer throughout but Van Sant has done better. Nevertheless this is an interesting look at a culture that many of us do not know much about.
An attempt with grandiose vision that successfully overdoes itself (2008-10-12)
Customer Review : 1
With no idea of what this movie was about except with a recommendation from a favored source, I rented this movie.
The artwork for the cover and just the name conjured up imagery of a possibly dark but well-done story, mystery and the inevitable looming of a tragic event.
What ended up happening was watching a movie that tried so hard to capture that of the high school awkwardness, playing the most random soundtrack (of course Eliot Smith was present), long, drawn-out slow-motion scenes (see the longest shower scene I have ever watched), and terrible, terrible acting.
This felt like a well-done attempt by a college film student who had a passion for skateboarding (see random shots of skateboarders), who executed this movie by watching well-done films (see Darren Afronosky) and emulating those to create many of the scenes you will see here. See the splicing of present with past in order to keep the viewer enticed.
Basically, this is a low-budget film without the low-budget, terrible song choices, terrible acting (this felt like films I've seen in Spanish class in high school), and just bad attempt.
If you want to watch a film that does the time sequence story, murder, but with out the awkward adolescence, amazing acting, watch Boy A.
Basically, just stay away from this film. Seriously.
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