Paranoid Park (Gus Van Sant, 2008)

[David Ehrenstein]

So the Nino Rota music was in effect a "temp track" that Gus decided to kep.

Remindful of the greatest "temp track" of all-time -- 2001: A Space Odyssey.

[foggy eyes]

I had a curious first reaction to this too. Firstly, the sound design is incredible (I thought my ears were going to pop during the white noise of the shower scene), and the broad choice of music very interesting (such as a particularly wonderful slow-motion shot unexpectedly overlaid with raucous speed metal). The fractured chronology (serving to delay the inevitable in Elephant and mirroring Blake's frazzled consciousness in Last Days) assumes a less abstract form here, possibly because Paranoid Park feels less conceptual and more plot-based to me than the previous two films. Doyle's cinematography is characteristically excellent, and Li's skating footage at the outset is sublime - woozily alighting on fleeting bodily motion with genuine corporeal grace.

However, there's still something curiously unsatisfying about the whole thing that I can't quite put my finger on - Alex is somehow not as captivating a presence as the protagonists of Elephant or Last Days, and I found it difficult to shake a creeping feeling that Van Sant's dilatory observational style might be starting to congeal already. For me, the major departure here from the so-called Death Trilogy emerges in the film's rhythmic design - Paranoid Park's cutting rate is much higher, and the Tarr-esque long takes have almost disappeared (there's certainly nothing like the extended shot of Damon and Affleck shuffling across the flats in Gerry or Scott's monologue and Blake's acoustic number in Last Days here).

Also, like Lino, I saw this projected at 1.85:1 (figured the NFT would get it right - guess not), and naturally it really doesn't do the film any favours - heads are repeatedly chopped, and Van Sant's mise en scène is severely cramped and compromised. Apparently Tartan are instructing projectionists that this be screened in 1.85 rather than academy in the UK, so if anyone is planning on seeing this during its theatrical run I'd suggest phoning the cinema in advance...

[Lino]

For me, the major departure here from the so-called Death Trilogy emerges in the film's rhythmic design - Paranoid Park's cutting rate is much higher, and the Tarr-esque long takes have almost disappeared (there's certainly nothing like the extended shot of Damon and Affleck shuffling across the flats in Gerry or Scott's monologue and Blake's acoustic number in Last Days here).

Yes, I definitely agree with you and as much as I want to discard Gerry in favour or Paranoid Park, I really can't because the long, one take shots are certainly not in the latter. It's a whole different kinetic being, much more energetic in nature and design (again, the word).

I really feel that although this movie has a sort of improvised and on the moment feeling, on closer inspection, it was clearly very thought over and planned. The fact that it doesn't feel that way, is to the credit and talents of the people involved.

One last thing that I forgot to mention on a previous post: Van Sant really loves his characters and there are plenty of truly magical moments throughout the movie, particularly those where the camera lingers on the actor's faces for what seem to be eternal instants. Definitely non-judgmental. I like this in Van Sant's movies - they are not dictatorial.

[David Ehrenstein]

Well I finally saw it today and was most pleasantly surprised. Not simply because I liked it but because it was far different from what descriptions I'd read (here and elsewhere) had led me to expect. While the lead is incredibly cute this is not film in thrall to homoerotic rapture. It's a very serious movie about adolescent angst and the emotional wreckage wrought by impossible situations. Very little Bela Tarr this time out. it's a one-character movie in which the protagonist inadvertently brings about the quite gruesome death of a security guard. But long before this his alienation is established in ways that haven't been seen on screen sicne the heyday of Antonioni and his muse Monica Vitti. Gus frames the film entirely in terms of Alex (Gabe Nevins), consequently we never see his mother in close-up or full-face, nor any of the other adults outside of a police detective. He has a "best friend" who's not really a friend at all and a girlfriend who uses him as a sex toy and status object and nothing more. When he breaks up with her we see her lips moving in astonishment but what we hear on the soundtrack is a blast of Rota's score for Amarcord. Elsewhere Juliet of the Spirits (particularly the finale) pops up, but not for the skating. Rapturously shot by Chris Doyle this is a film I'm going to be looking at several times before saying any more.

[pemmican]

Hm. Interesting that you liked it, David, and probably wise to be cautious in reacting to the film - I don't feel like I was - but I'd really recommend looking at the book, as well, if you want to fairly evaluate the film. Van Sant's approach to the text is very strange (and the book is an extremely moving story, well-crafted and straightforward; since it's written for teeangers, it can be easily read in a couple of sittings).

I'll have an interview online soonish with Blake Nelson, the author of the book. He also quite liked the film.

P.

[David Ehrenstein]

I'm planning to read the book. In the press notes Gus says "I played with the story structure a lot. There aren't many parts of the movie that are not from the book, but structurally it is quite manipulated."

Interesting.

Just looked at it again. It's so sad.

[foggy eyes]

Here's an odd little article from the Guardian about Van Sant and sk8er bois:

The film's sunny, slow-motion reveries of skaters sailing gracefully through the air (shot in grainy Super-8, evidently from another skateboard) are as close as cinema has come to capturing the poetry of the sport.

Yes.

Rather than celebrating skaters, is Van Sant slyly demonising them?

I very much doubt it.

[David Ehrenstein]

That's a very strange review. The author states that Alex deliberately kills the security guard when this is quite obviously not the case.

Also, I find that Gus keeps the visual lyricism in check most of the time. I don't find the skteboarders idealized in any way at all. And we are frequently informed the Paranoid Park is a dangerous place for a kid like Alex to go. Note that he never wants to go there alone.

[Dylan]

Soundtrack CD track listing:

[quote]1. Nino Rota : La Gradisca e Il Principe
2. Elliott Smith : Angeles
3. Elliott Smith : The White Lady Loves You More
4. Nino Rota : Il Giardino Delle Fate
5. Billy Swan : I Can Help
6. Henry Davies : Tunnelmouth Blues
7. Cast King : Outlaw
8. Menomena : Strongest Man In The World
9. Cool Nutz : I Heard That
10. Nino Rota : La Porticina Segreta
11. The Revolts : We Will Revolt
12. Nino Rota : L'Arcobaleno Per Giulietta
13. Beethoven : Symphony N°9 “Choralâ€

[foggy eyes]

A couple of interviews with Van Sant: one from the Guardian, and another from the Telegraph.

[Antoine Doinel]

Trailer

Poster

[Don Lope de Aguirre]

Apparently Tartan are instructing projectionists that this be screened in 1.85 rather than academy in the UK

Very strange indeed and why would they be doing this? I saw this today and the head chops were immediately noticeable! We will see what Tartan make of the DVD...

As for the film, what rubbish! I regularly walk out of films, even good ones such as Volver but this is the first time I have ever felt like asking for my money back.

The film was empty, self-parodic and gormless! We have seen the fragmented chronology device before, we have seen air head babes before (the skater's on-off girlfriend looked like the equally thick bulimic girl from Elephant) we have heard some of the sounds before (the 'jungle' sounds could have been taken straight from Elephant as far as I know). Even the soundtrack is dumb... at times it felt like a student film!

Van Sant (like Todd Haynes) has a 'talent' for reinvention. He seems to have run out of ideas with this Bela Tarr-trip. Maybe it's time for another reincarnation!

Watch Elephant (or Last Days) instead.

[foggy eyes]

Did you see it in a multiplex or rep cinema, Don Lope? The former probably won't be able to accomodate academy ratio, so will just screen it in 1:85. The latter should have no excuse!

[Dylan]

I regularly walk out of films, even good ones...

?

[tavernier]

That was definitely a puzzling statement....

[Don Lope de Aguirre]

That was definitely a puzzling statement....

The way it was put probably probably will cause confusion. Basically, the more films I watch the more I look for what I perceive to be exceptional films as opposed to very competent ones or at least films which have exceptional qualities. Anyway, I have had too much wine to explain myself well but Paranoid Park is mundane in every way!

[David Ehrenstein]

What do you mean by "mundane"?

A man sliced in half by a train, crawling forward with what's left of his torso while his severed legs lay behind him on the gravel isn't "mundane" in my view.

[Don Lope de Aguirre]

A man sliced in half by a train, crawling forward with what's left of his torso while his severed legs lay behind him on the gravel isn't "mundane" in my view.

You (obviously) need to put this in the context of the film as a whole...

Did you see it in a multiplex or rep cinema, Don Lope? The former probably won't be able to accomodate academy ratio, so will just screen it in 1:85. The latter should have no excuse!

I saw it at the UGC Haymarket...not my first choice but one of the very few still showing this film.

[chaddoli]

Mr. Ehrenstein,

Can you put spoiler tags on such material? I have seen the film, but many others haven't. And I don't think the specifics of the crime should be known. Or at least, some viewers might not want to know them before they see it.

And as to your post, I appreciate your comments on the film, and I loved it too in a similar way, but violence has nothing to do with whether or not a film is mundane.

[David Ehrenstein]

Sure it does.

As "Spoiler" tags are adolescent. Either you discuss the film or you don't.

[miless]

I found this film to be way overrated. Parts were almost brilliant (the shower scene), but others were excruciatingly dull and/or distracting due to bad acting or over-intrusive music/sound design. (It probably didn't help that the actors stuck around for a Q&A and seemed totally clueless)

It was good, but it certainly wasn't better than his last three films. It seemed very uneven and rushed. Great cinematography, however.

[tavernier]

Armond trashes it.

My favorite line from his review:

It’s a less credible view of skateboarding than Lords of Dogtown and dour Alex lacks the appeal and realness of Téchiné’s protagonist/lifeforce Johan Liberteau in The Witnesses.

[portnoy]

what in the living fuck does andre techine have to do with this movie

goddam armond is so fucking stupid sometimes

[foggy eyes]

Hoberman loves it.

The more enthusiastic reviews seem to be rather forgiving to me - for example, I just can't find as much to like in Alex's presence or performance as Hoberman does, and struggle with the idea that there's more "inner life" here than in Elephant - there's more narrativity, but less observational reward. Although Van Sant has shifted to a more direct and involved perspective than in the previous three films, I'm not sure that it reveals anything more.

There is plenty to admire here, but I don't think the individual attributes complement each other well enough to form a coherent whole - the film feels like a series of sketches, variations on a theme, and too often lapses into formal self-pastiche (for example the slow panning shot over Macy and Rachel at the mall when Alex is reading the "obituaries" - why this liminal observation at this point in time?).

And Armond's review is another crock of shit. Is he going to be comparing The Witnesses to everything over the coming months? I also liked the film immensely, but, as with everything, it has its place...

Davidhare, seeing as you seem to be a little underwhelmed too , I'd love to hear your thoughts...

[David Ehrenstein]

I have a review that will be appearing in the new issue of Film Comment.

Of course I liked it. A lot.

I'm a sucker for any movie with pretty boys in them.