- Photos:
-
- Running time:
- 84 minutes
- Rated:
- R
- Cast:
- Gabe Nevins -
- Alex
- Taylor Momsen -
- Jennifer
- Jake Miller -
- Jared
- Lauren McKinney -
- Macy
- Scott Green -
- Director:
- Gus Van Sant
- Genre:
- Drama
- Overall User Rating:
-
(1 rating)
When a security guard is found dead near a popular skate park, Portland, Ore., area police start questioning the high-school's "skateboard community." The impact of this investigation, and the events before and after it, are seen through the eyes of Alex (Gabe Nevins), who's grappling not just with his mediocre skateboarding abilities and own potentially regrettable choices but also his separated parents, a not-terribly bright girlfriend and a vague acknowledgement/confusion about the Iraq war.
Big question: Can writer-director Gus Van Sant adapt Blake Nelson's novel to create the same type of hyper-realistic glimpse into teen life as he did in "Elephant"?
Catch it: Again Van Sant perfectly taps into the distracted, lonely mess of the teen years and how during seemingly insignificant moments the 16-year-old brain is often a traffic jam of excitement, discomfort and fear. In "Paranoid Park" he captures how on a skateboard it's the body that's active and the mind that's at peace, a stark contrast from life on the ground that's hard enough without the concerns of the messed-up world that not even your elders claim to understand.
Skip it: If, like Alex's 13-year-old brother (Dillon Hines), you're still quoting "Napoleon Dynamite." That movie sure hasn't aged well.
Bottom line: "Paranoid Park" doesn't get at where teenage confusion (particularly about current events) comes from, but like "Elephant," the movie is beautiful and slow and never boring -- just a gentle, hazy sleepwalk through a time in life that never really feels fully settled or awake. The young actors understand the incidental mistakes that come from leaping before you look, and "Paranoid" will surely stick with you, like the fractured memories of your past and the scattered flashbacks of one night that won't leave Alex alone.
Bonus: Take a lesson from Alex and don't ask for a Frappuccino at an independent coffee house. That's like asking for a Big Mac at Burger King. Blasphemy!
What do you think of 'Paranoid Park'? Email me: mpais@tribune.com
[“Paranoid Park” is also available through “IFC In Theaters,” a video on demand service from select cable providers and DirecTV.]
