Review of Paranoid Park (2007) by Gavin O — 23 Dec 2008
The DVD I have of this is fullscreen, but its the only version I've seen out there. This trailer makes me wonder if they pulled another Elephant situation where theres a widescreen version out there but the proper actual aspect ratio is fullscreen? I don't know. Friggin Van Sant.
Paranoid Park is immediately one of my favorite Van Sant films, and the most satisfying of his looser, more recent films. It will likely be in my top 10 of the year. It's probably the best representation of teenagers I've ever seen put to film - they're idiots, and the smartest one of them, Macy, is political in that idealistic naive still-learning teenage sense. Alex is a terrible liar, often mute and expressionless, slouchy. He's dumb with his girlfriend and shows a lot of apathy. His reaction about the war is so typical. I mean fuck, this whole movie is more realistic than American Teen, and that's a documentary.
Well, a lot of things are more realistic than American Teen.
Anyways, several of my favorite scenes of the year here. I thought I was going to die laughing watching his younger brother describe Napoleon Dynamite scenes.
This review of Paranoid Park (2007) was written by Gavin O on 23 Dec 2008.
Paranoid Park has generally received positive reviews.
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