Gus Van Sant is only so into dialogue. Sure, he brought the “Good Will Hunting” Oscar-winning screenplay to the big screen in tremendous fashion, and a few years later chipped in another solid effort with script-driven “Finding Forrester,” but conventional movies seem almost like a side hobby to him. Since the 2000 release of “Forrester,” Van Sant has directed four films, all of which, including the subject of this review, find far more intrigue in silence. Whether the camera sits still or follows its subject, Van Sant’s more recent works have been characterized by their desire to let their scenes play out while keeping them as minimal as possible.
The silent subject of “Paranoid Park,” his newest feature, is Alex (Gabe Nevins), a high school skater with a passion for observation. Alex suffers from a number of ailments of the average teen: Parents going through a divorce, girlfriend issues, inattentive friends and the general trauma of growing up. What separates Alex from the normative youth of his age is his potential involvement in the murder of a security guard near Portland’s infamous Paranoid Park. Through the movie’s fractured narrative, we find out more and more about what Alex actually has to do with the tragic occurrence as he deals with his internalized and secret guilt.
Fast Facts
WHAT: | Local filmmaker Gus Van Sant’s latest film. |
WHERE: | Opening this Friday at Bijou Art Cinemas. |
MORE INFO: | www.bijou-cinemas.com |
“Paranoid Park” never gets anywhere near the near-silent film status of “Last Days,” but Nevins’ blank face does the majority of the talking. The stoic star stares sharply at anything and everything; if it weren’t for his occasional voice-over narration, he would be a completely blank slate. While the use of the unaltered face often appears as a cheap acting technique (it tempts viewers into attaching their own emotions to the character, whether relevant or not), Nevins uses it to distance Alex’s inner-self from the viewer, adding to his character’s mystery.
Van Sant’s stalker technique has been used to excellent effect in the past, the best example being its devastating calming effect in “Elephant.” That film’s lack of a linear story allowed the shooting style to add to its dream-like ambience, a vibe that “Park” misguidedly attempts to recreate. Shots of Alex walking down the hall can last for two minutes at a time without any purpose outside of style, an amount of time that the movie’s 80-minute run-time could have used better to add layers on the story. Van Sant is an accomplished auteur that can pull off a structured story and an experimental film with equal success, but even he can’t fully weave the two together.
That being said, both of the individual styles tend to perform at a very high (if contradictory) level. Though only using two of his works, Van Sant once again utilizes the music of fellow Portlander Elliott Smith to harrowing effect, giving words to the pain that Alex simply refuses to vocalize. And when the movie isn’t in music video mode, Van Sant captivates his viewer’s attention with ease, keeping us guessing about the mystery of Paranoid Park and the boy with the stone face.
Though suffering from his own ambition and lack of discipline, Van Sant’s latest is a tremendous leap in quality from his last film, “Last Days,” and reminds us of the pure cinematic gifts that he possesses. It’s an easy criticism to say that the whole is less than the sum of the parts, but for an early year release, this is about as emotionally effecting and artistically accomplished as one can hope for. The flaws are simple to point out, but, unlike the film’s most shining moments, they won’t be what stick with you for days after the movie has ended.
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