Paranoid Park is an unpredictable, fresh film from Gus Van Sant that tells the story of introspective-teen Alex's struggles with life as he gets involved with the killing of a train station security guard. The whole film hitches on the performance of its star, Gabe Nevins; fortunately, Nevins is in just about every scene of the movie. Nevins is an absolute newcomer to movie-acting, but he works perfectly here. Every scene that he's in, the viewer is completely captured in his quiet, emotional turmoil. Nevins' big, beautiful, sulky eyes tell a story all their own. He's wonderful.
Unfortunately, the other young actors are not so comfortable or capable in front of the camera. They are genuine enough though for it to be forgiven though. The real problem here is Van Sant, who's cinematography is trying far too hard to "look" independent. The goofy camera angles and Van Sant's trademark moving-angle/moving-actor camera-work seem un-natural and distract from developing the characters more (which is where more focus was needed). The story jumps forwards and backwards in time so much that sometimes you don't know when you are, but once you've figured the chronology out, that's not a big complaint for me.
Overall, the film is a success. It's a reasonable enough story with interesting characters that's well-held-together by an amazing and fresh young performance by Gabe Nevins (just watching him is reason enough to see this movie). As a bonus, the material he's acting out is unique and interesting. A solid thumbs-up purchase for me. Hopefully we see more of this young actor in the future.
Unfortunately, the other young actors are not so comfortable or capable in front of the camera. They are genuine enough though for it to be forgiven though. The real problem here is Van Sant, who's cinematography is trying far too hard to "look" independent. The goofy camera angles and Van Sant's trademark moving-angle/moving-actor camera-work seem un-natural and distract from developing the characters more (which is where more focus was needed). The story jumps forwards and backwards in time so much that sometimes you don't know when you are, but once you've figured the chronology out, that's not a big complaint for me.
Overall, the film is a success. It's a reasonable enough story with interesting characters that's well-held-together by an amazing and fresh young performance by Gabe Nevins (just watching him is reason enough to see this movie). As a bonus, the material he's acting out is unique and interesting. A solid thumbs-up purchase for me. Hopefully we see more of this young actor in the future.