Gus Van Sant loves endless shots of kids walking towards the camera. He made a whole movie (“Elephant”) of just this shot. In the first fifteen minutes of “Paranoid Park,” Van Sant uses this technique, along with gauzy, endless shots of skateboarding, to recalibrate the audience—and to scare them away. The austerity and confusion at the beginning are litmus tests. The film makes sense only in unconventional ways.
To attract viewers, the “Paranoid Park” DVD is unfairly billed as a mystery.* It does have elements of a mystery: a death, a weapon, a cop on the trail. But the pieces of the puzzle are shown out of order; the film is more interested in high school society than anything else.
Alex (Gabe Nevins) is the fluttering narrator of “Paranoid Park.” As a sometime-skater, he is automatically a suspect in a suspicious death near the eponymous skate park. A security guard has been chopped in half by a passing train at a depot. The detective may or may not have a skateboard that may or may not be part of the crime.
First-time actor Nevins helps “Paranoid Park” in several ways. For one, he can actually skate.** The film never jumps to an obvious stunt double in the distance.
The structure of the film is dictated by Alex writing a story of his recent troubles. This is why moments are repeated and shown in a haphazard order. Alex’s stuttered and affectless narration comes from the story. Again here, the genius of the casting shines through. The not-fully-literate Alex is focused only on sounding out the words; extra attention cannot be used on reading with any emotion.
Special notice should be made of the subtitles on the “Paranoid Park” DVD. In addition to the expected dialogue and incidental sounds, songs on the soundtrack and the artists who perform them are shown at the proper times. An effort is even made to describe the songs. This leads to subtitles like, “‘Walk Through Resonant Landscape No. 2’ by Frances White…music is made up of birdsong and other ambient sounds, rising in intensity.” Cool. This really only adds contextually to an appreciation of the film, but it’s better than the norm.
To attract viewers, the “Paranoid Park” DVD is unfairly billed as a mystery.* It does have elements of a mystery: a death, a weapon, a cop on the trail. But the pieces of the puzzle are shown out of order; the film is more interested in high school society than anything else.
Alex (Gabe Nevins) is the fluttering narrator of “Paranoid Park.” As a sometime-skater, he is automatically a suspect in a suspicious death near the eponymous skate park. A security guard has been chopped in half by a passing train at a depot. The detective may or may not have a skateboard that may or may not be part of the crime.
First-time actor Nevins helps “Paranoid Park” in several ways. For one, he can actually skate.** The film never jumps to an obvious stunt double in the distance.
The structure of the film is dictated by Alex writing a story of his recent troubles. This is why moments are repeated and shown in a haphazard order. Alex’s stuttered and affectless narration comes from the story. Again here, the genius of the casting shines through. The not-fully-literate Alex is focused only on sounding out the words; extra attention cannot be used on reading with any emotion.
Special notice should be made of the subtitles on the “Paranoid Park” DVD. In addition to the expected dialogue and incidental sounds, songs on the soundtrack and the artists who perform them are shown at the proper times. An effort is even made to describe the songs. This leads to subtitles like, “‘Walk Through Resonant Landscape No. 2’ by Frances White…music is made up of birdsong and other ambient sounds, rising in intensity.” Cool. This really only adds contextually to an appreciation of the film, but it’s better than the norm.
*I’m assuming the marketing is out of Gus Van Sant’s hands.
**Specifically, he can skate as well as his character. He’s not great, but he’s better than most people.
No comments:
Post a Comment