Review of Paranoid Park

Review: Paranoid Park

The last few films by director Gus Van Sant were part of what he called his “Death Trilogy”. But there the death was centered on a protagonist and, unbeknownst to them, just around the corner: Elephant follows a handful of high school students in the hours before their school is gunned down by disgruntled peers, while Last Days looks at a Kurt Cobain stand-in just before his suicide. Paranoid Park doesn’t have any death in store for its protagonist, but it doesn’t stray too far from the theme. A significant portion of the story is guided by the narration of Alex (Gabe Nevins), a high school junior, as he writes a letter describing the last recent events in his life: his parents’ separation, his disinterest in his girlfriend, and skateboarding. It’s the latter that takes him to the place known as Paranoid Park, where he takes to sitting by the side and watching the older kids. Alex’s recounting of events, complete with uncertainty and clichéd phrases, only lets fragments of information seep through; we eventually see it all unfold again, in chronological order, with a completely different understanding. What happens in between, a harrowing event that provoked audible gasps at the TIFF screening, forces audiences to truly reexamine Alex and adolescence: what seems like common depression is in fact rooted in something that cuts far deeper. Van Sant’s lucid narrative is held together by familiar moments—Elliott Smith’s “Angeles”, last seen in Good Will Hunting, is on its may to becoming the warhorse that Martin Scorsese has in “Gimme Shelter”—and gentle humor that in the moment soothes the pain, but makes the whole experience harder to shake.

Posted on 09/13/07 by: calmac 09:00 PM