My review of "Paranoid Park" is in the Chicago Sun-Times and on RogerEbert.com. Here's an excerpt:
Many films use scrambled chronology just to make the story seem more interesting than it really is. That's not what happens in "Paranoid Park." The story, told as Alex pencils entries into a lined notebook, is an elliptical record of how he processes the terrible thing that happened one night in the neighborhood of Paranoid Park. The narrative moves in arcs and curves, like the skateboarders who float and glide around in dreamy 8mm slow-motion, as Alex circles the truth in his writing, promising himself, "I'll get it all on paper eventually."
"Paranoid Park" is a companion piece to Van Sant's "Elephant" (his stylized reimagining of a typical high-school day shattered by a Columbine-like massacre) -- and, by extension, "Gerry" and "Last Days" (inspired by the suicide of rock icon Kurt Cobain). Shot mostly in Portland blues and grays by Christopher Doyle and Rain Li, the film takes us inside the gloomy, tormented consciousness of Alex. Like the kids in "Elephant" who negotiate mazes of locker-lined hallways in long, slow takes, Alex moves through space as if he were underwater. He's an outwardly sullen, nearly somnambulistic kid, and there are things going on inside him, weighing him down, that he can't quite grasp, much less articulate....
I'm impressed when I see a film like Paranoid Park and someone like you, Jim, is able to so well articulate what I liked about the film (especially when it eludes my ability to put it into words).
I think Paranoid Park is an elusive film, largely because it's so subjective. It's all from the perspective of Alex's world which is in complete disarray. First with the family situation and then with the security guard situation. The film really effectively conveys Alex's fractured state of mind, reflected in the use of idiosyncratic music. Van Sant's editing was excellent. I also thought the slowed frame at times was magic. This is my favourite cinema release of the year thus far.
BTW, there's another excellent review by Jake Wilson of the Melbourne Age at www.theage.com.au/news/film-reviews/paranoid-park/2008/03/06/1204402603568.html
Well said, I just went to this in South Africa, and I was very impressed.
It is my favourite of the 2008 releases too Paul Martin, without a doubt.
I will attept to write my own review soon enough.
I really enjoyed the mood of "Paranoid Park" and the emotions it evoked without verbalization. No doubt Alex is an introspective kid, but I'm glad he lacks the ability to unpack his heart with words. It would have ruined the film.
And kudos, Jim, for re-creating that swaying, narcoleptic feeling in your review.
While looking at Wikipedia for cast facts, I found it terribly interesting how devoid of life its plot synopsis is. It describes moments in the film, but little else.
I look forward to using the page when lamenting the deficiencies of a site like Wikipedia. Wikipedia's problems (like the useless and misguided plot synopsis of this film) run deeper than other because it seems many folks are not aware of them. "It's such-and-such percent accurate," they tell me. Uh-huh.