Philip French. This deeply disturbing cautionary tale shows how a teenager’s bad decision leads to a never-ending nightmare. A shocking image, George A. Romero-like in its gory, entrailed brutality, momentarily snaps the movie out of its torpor, the most graphic death in an oeuvre strewn with out-of-frame killings. Paranoid Park is not one of his most accessible films, to be sure, but it does have a visual and aural poetry that stays with you long after you've left the theater. Even when I was trying to appear indifferent I was still boiling inside and horrified by everything around me. Video and Presentation The full-screen picture is a solid video transfer in every sense of the word. Paranoid Park (2006)Director: Gus Van SantActor : Gabe NevinsOST "Song Three" By Ethan Rose Detective Lu, investigating a nasty death in the train yard by Paranoid Park, inquires into his whereabouts on the night in question. In a film where dialogue comes at a premium, Van Sant allows his camera to do the talking, and when it rests too long on one subject, the commentary feels like overstatement. for some disturbing images, language and sexual content, Billie Eilish: The World's a Little Blurry, Joss Whedon Practically Plagiarizes Himself in the Uneven The Nevers, Thrilling Reboot of Kung Fu Offers Needed Representation on The CW, Short Films in Focus: The Oscar-Nominated Short Films of 2021, Nasim Pedrad Boldly Parodies Adolescence in TBS' Chad. Paranoid Park is a rare breed: a movie about teenagers in which the characters talk like real teenagers, act like real teenagers, and are played by real teenagers. When he goes to the park he meets new people which lead him into trouble. Genres: Psychological Drama, Coming-of-Age. Comments; Are you ready for Paranoid Park? If you're going to play the same riff over and over again, at least lower it an octave. Paranoid Park is used by tough skateboarders who intrigue the speaker. As the film begins, his parents are divorcing, he's dreading the inevitable moment when his sketchy virgin girlfriend demands that he deflower her, and he's called out of class by Detective Richard Lu (Daniel Liu), one of the few adults in the film whose face is allowed to register onscreen. Paranoid Park is a quiet film full of subtle but important moments of character development that are intensely moving thanks to the unobtrusively beautiful camerawork and the naturalistic acting. Mixing pedestrian realism with arty self-consciousness, Van Sant has created a snapshot of … It’s a question that haunts Portland teenager Alex … By Total Film 26 December 2007. This review of Paranoid Park (2007) was written by Justin Stewart and published by Stop Smiling on 22 August 2017.. Too brief and good-looking to actively dislike, Paranoid Park is still uninspiringly repetitive. Overall, film critics marginally prefer the movie, giving it an average score of 74%, compared to cinema-goers, who gave it a slightly lower average score of 67%. Paranoid Park. While visiting the park, the main character is dared to jump a train car with one of the Streeters. [4] The film received mostly positive reviews; some critics praised the direction and cinematography in particular, though others believed the film to be overly stylized and slow paced. Rated the #94 best film of 2007, and #5799 in the … Read the review and get showtimes for this film.. The teenager's impressionistic headspace is his canvas, layered like a Keats poem and scored like an iPod. Skip to content, or skip to search. Rated R Like the touching and funny scene with Alex's younger brother in which he sits on Alex's bed and incomprehensibly recounts scenes from a movie (see how long it takes you to figure out which one). The unnamed narrator is 16, preppy and a keen skateboarder ignored by his troubled family. I would say that there is a really good 50 minute movie tucked away inside here, but Van Sant insists on padding it with material that doesn't belong. Few times have a licensed soundtrack and original score come together so well to create a dreadful atmosphere. "Paranoid Park" is a companion piece to Van Sant's "Elephant" (his stylized reimagining of a typical high-school day shattered by a Columbine-like massacre) -- and, by extension, "Gerry" and "Last Days" (inspired by the suicide of rock icon Kurt Cobain). Van Sant retains the lovely insider's perspective of floating on the surface of an alien if familiar-looking planet, courtesy of one-time Wong Kar Wai cinematographer Christopher Doyle. 4 out of 5 Stars, 8/10 Score Even if the movie's low-key modesty will keep many people from considering it among the greatest of Van Sant's films, it might very well be his most representative. 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