Review of Paranoid Park (2007) by Shawnm — 28 Mar 2010
The Good: Realistic, if a little too disaffected, teenage acting. Beautifully shot. Well-developed minimalist character study. Elliptical chronology. A couple of tense, gripping scenes. The Bad: The rest of the scenes are either filler of grainy skateboarding shots, slow-motion shots of the lead character that last WAY too long, oddly placed music, and a stubborn disregard for the audience.
Van Sant seems to think that although the lead character has come to terms with what he has done, it's ok to leave us hanging in terms of the police investigation, which is where most of the tension in the movie derives.
This movie is a mixed bag. Worth a view, but it by all means isn't as brilliant as I was lead to believe.
This review of Paranoid Park (2007) was written by Shawnm on 28 Mar 2010.
Paranoid Park has generally received positive reviews.
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