Paranoid Park
Winner of the 60th anniversary award at this year’s Cannes Festival, director Gus Van Sant, returns with the highly anticipated film Paranoid Park. It was initially released in 2007, but many countries have had to wait until this year.
Paranoid Park stars Gabe Nevins, Taylor Momsen and Scott Patrick Green and is the story of a teenage skateboarder, Alex (Gabe Nevins), whose life changes when he accidentally kills a security guard. Alex decides to erase the evidence by throwing his skateboard into the river although it will still be found by police.
Here’s what TopTenReviews says about the movie.
A teenage art-flick, Paranoid Park proves the most fluent and coherent of Gus Van Sant’s recent experiments. Part crime mystery, part coming-of-age story, it’s positively overflowing with burnished imagery and adolescent turmoil.
Southpawfilmworks comments on director’s style.
The use of non-actors as a stylistic choice is nothing new, but Van Sant does it as well as any filmmaker since Robert Bresson. While many viewers might find lead actor Gabe Nevins’ lack of emotional expressiveness and technical polish off-putting, his presence works as an alienation effect that refocuses viewer attention on the manner in which the story is being told as opposed to the mechanics of the plot. Nevins’ Alex doesn’t need to be shown wrestling with his ethical quandary because Van Sant asks the audience to do it.
The DVD was released on April 28th. Enjoy the trailer.