Review of Paranoid Park (2007) by Perrine B — 16 Aug 2009

Infuriating, pretentious, alienating, dislocated, melancholy and beautiful, "Paranoid Park" is all these things. Gus Van Sant goes back to his indie roots with this minimalist piece, and, unfortunately, it's a very lacklustre experience; it's as though he's reverted to childish, lazy, film school techniques, as we have endless slow motion shots of people walking down corridors to, admittedly well chosen, music, and a camera lovingly roving over character's faces.

The story itself, what little there is, concerns a possible unsolved murder near a skate park, and the awakening of the main character, Alex, to the world beyond teenagedom. It's beautifully photographed by Christopher Doyle, and the score perfectly evokes the emotion of every scene (again a bit of a cheap tactic from Film 101), and there is one extremely shocking, disturbing moment.

It also paints the rather sad disconnected world of the American teenager rather well. But just when Van Sant was becoming a very interesting film maker, with "Elephant" and "Milk", this is a massive backward step.