Overall Rank:

Avg. Rating:

# of Ratings:

Genres:

Rating:

Language:

DVD Release:

Director:

Actors:

Gabe Nevins
Daniel Liu
Taylor Momsen
Jake Miller
Lauren McKinney
Winfield Jackson

Plot outline:

Add Plot +

View Plots +

01/14/2009 (0 of 0 found this helpful)

Poetic, disturbing story of lonely teen skater.

In Gus Van Sant's quietly disturbing "Paranoid Park," teenagers look, sound and act like teenagers. I mention this because it places this film in bold relief against other current movies about teenagers, where teens are self-assured, beautiful and far more mature than any of their real-life counterparts ever actually are. For this I applaud Van Sant, and it's largely what makes "Paranoid Park" such a compelling viewing experience.

The awkward teen at the center of Van Sant's film is Alex, who inadvertently causes the grisly death of a rail yard security guard, and the guilt that haunts him sends him fleeing from the weight bearing down on him. Van Sant does a good job of constructing his film to resemble the inner workings of a distracted teenage mind. Alex decides to write down the se...

Rating of
3/4 

12/06/2008 (0 of 0 found this helpful)

Van Sant Continues to Impress

The thing about apathy is that eventually either you wake up or you shut down. The apathetic main character (Gabe Nevins) in this picture woke up and it was an interesting journey. I found this picture, directed by Gus Van Sant, admirable in several ways. The poetic lyricism embedded in some scenes was appropriate when it comes to showing the character’s innocence; the scenes that most people will think are “pointless” are so close to real life and they made me laugh. Pretty much all the actors brought something natural to the table and made me wonder if the events in this film really happened to someone. Furthermore, I liked that the story was not told in chronological order so it forces the audience to pay attention and reward those who stuck with the characters from beginning to end. T...

Rating of
3/4 

07/20/2008 (0 of 0 found this helpful)

Step into RL.

This is a love it or hate it kind of affair, you either hate Van Sant's style which continues much in the footsteps of Elephant or you don't. This isn't a movie with big reveals, hot shot detectives who get to the bottom of everything and all plot threads nicely wrapped up. Its a slow and low key affair which some nice performances and while it's easy to say the actors are just playing themselves, try to have a camera stuck in your face and see how natural you can act. Art imitates life and if you have had enough of life and want to watch a movie I suggest staying away.

Rating of
3/4 

05/23/2008 (0 of 0 found this helpful)

blah blah

I am not one to sit through an entire movie (in the theater or at home) if it's lame. My boyfriend and I walked out of this movie....eek. Gus Van Sant disappointed me in this one. C'mon where's the dialog and the plot!!! It also took place in Portland as all his movies do, but this movie was blah blah. Great images of Burnside park and Portland bridges though.

Rating of
1/4