Review of Paranoid Park (2007) by Jeremy T — 28 Oct 2008

Stylistically similar to Elephant, maybe less impactful. Another meditation on American youth. Beautifully shot and artfully scripted, this film gets less to the core of the teenage American soul but creates just as much suspense and confusion as Elephant.

It seems slathered with the pain of being a teenager, and the beauty of youth that can only be appreciated once youth is gone (by Van Sant, and presumably, by his audience). The cinematography is especially noteworthy.

Certain speechless scenes took my breath away, and the soundtrack is among the best I've ever heard. Some of Van Sant's trademark, Lynchian shots of characters walking down hallways in slow motion for minutes on end can be frustrating to the instant-gratification impulse of the modern mind.

But if you can get over that and view it less as a movie and more of a work of art (you know, a "film"), then it's pretty great.