Gus Van Sant's Paranoid Park

And why is this being released in Europe three months before America?

I would like to see it, one day.

xp: because it would be drowned out in the US right now by Oscar-bait films that have "REINVENTED CINEMA"

Did you see Silent Light (Stellet Licht), Alba?

The 'murder' scene in this film is grizzly.

I really wanted to see Silent Light, but I came back to the country too late to catch it at the GFT.

I've noticed that the UK tends to get lots of good films in January, but they're usually ones that the US got the year before.

It's brief grizzliness was just right, I think, for the way something like that would be burned on his memory.

i want to see this real bad. his last three are faves.

Doesn't seem like there's much enthusiasm for this. Either that or few have seen it.

I enjoyed it for the most part, having enjoyed Elephant and Last Days, though it didn't really linger on after seeing it. He does have a way of making boys look beautiful though and a great way with making beauty very realistic. Or making the realistic beautiful, either way.

Love that he focuses on the boys too when so much film & TV is very "male gaze". Does it make a difference though, when this is male gaze too?

Still keep meaning to watch The Namesake, on your recommendation Alba, however long ago that was now.

Paranoid Park was great. Silent Light less so. I think that Gus Van Sant manages to fit a certain interesting nothingness into these films, a hyper-naturalistic drift (partially due to music and subject matter of course - but more than that). In many ways Silent Light was the opposite, a rigidly mannered tale of almost nothing which gave its visuals much more importance that the other aspects of film making (like getting some of the actors not to wink at the camera when they deliver their lines). Silent Light's Playschool proceedural bits (heres how they milk cows) were lovely, but I hated what stood for the story and its message.

Paranoid Park lulls you into its rhythm so well, without ever being dull. The grizliness was shocking, but then so was how rubbishly he dumped his girlfriend, and I liked how these things were almost given equal weight.

Oh, and yes with the Namesake - it was only last year but would be good to catch before the next Harold and Kumar film.

It's brief grizzliness was just right, I think, for the way something like that would be burned on his memory.

Burned on mine too.

Did anyone perceive any real significance in the way that he seemed to deliberately obscure the parents' faces?

No real significance beyond them being meh adults. And we did see the faces quite a bit (in the Dad chat certainly).

want to see please.

finally,release in the U.S. next week. will see.

I saw this on Saturday. It's not very good.

I liked it much more than Elephant. Something about those endless angsty hallway and skateboard park...and that kid's huge eyes.

"Elephant" is among my least favorite films ever made.

Rainn Wilson auditions for "Paranoid Park": 'Okay, now I'm going to d some skateboard tricks, and take a homoerotic shower in slow motion...'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvQWqy7bHT4

appears to be on the ifc on demand thingy for $6.99.

I watched this last night and didn't really think much of it. There were individual scenes in it that I really enjoyed or appreciated (the scene on the railroad in particular), but overall it felt distinctly lacking. To me the acting and dialogue just felt stilted rather than realistic or naturalistic and for the most part I was little more than bored by long swathes of nothing happening rather than impressed by cinematic minimalism. I loved Elephant (only saw it once, but really really enjoyed it), but didn't feel like Paranoid Park was anywhere near as good.

this movie is fucking amazing - easily gvs best

i am haunted haunted by it even now 12 hours later

so weird and funny and beautiful and disturbing and otm

I should see if it's playing around where I'm at today, I like gvs a lot

And why is this being released in Europe three months before America?

it was a franco-american production. it came out in paris in october.

i kind of loved this

Pretty cool. The only scene that didn't really work for me was the first one in the coffee shop. I like that GVS uses nonprofessional actors, but the girl who played Macy was weak; she kept smirking. Lots of pretty camerawork, though.

macy was overacting a bit, yeah

i liked macy

but not as much as the cheerleader girlfriend lololololol so classic

the detective was so great too

I agree that the detective was excellent now that you mention it. I couldn't help thinking of anything but Avril Lavigne when faced with the girlfriend though. Sorry.

UH SPOILER I GUESS

the girlfriend was perfect in the silent breakup scene

xp She's in Gossip Girl, apparently.

liked this a lot, probably more than Elephant or Last Days. It might be Gus's best looking film, thanks to Harris Savides.

strangely, while i was in the theater on friday watching this, casting was calling me about some background work on Milk. So I spent all day saturday on the set with Gus, Harris et al. fucking sweet!

It might be Gus's best looking film, thanks to Harris Savides.

Do you mean Christopher Doyle? Or do you mean because Harris Savides didn't shoot this one like he did the last few?

lol i thought he was the dp on that film too. i'll just shuffle those thanks over to christopher doyle.

"paranoid" might be van sant's best novie imo.
the shifting between times and re-screening scenes (like etom egoyan used to make) the dual metaphores (water/fire,life/death and of course skeeboarding dizziness )shown with the usuall van sant's duality use of in/out zooms slow/fast motion,fades outs/ins works incrediblly well, add to that the use of almost proper narative that was lacking "last days", this is a perfect balance between an abstract piece and a plain good story.
the photography is beautiful though sometiems over accessive.same for the soundtrack, but thats just minor faults for a wonderfull piece of art.

agreed it was satisfying to get a little more narrative intrigue after his last mood piece, but i'm not sure what you're trying to say about the photography. the music was one of the highlights for me esp. nino roto's prominent "Il Giardino Delle Fate".

favorite scene: dude borrows mom's car, cruises around town, all in close-up. his mood shifts as he listens to rap then metal then classical is some nice generational commentary.

"what you're trying to say about the photography"
Christopher Doyle's photography alawys seems to me somewhat over the top extrovert, but i think it's better here than with kar-wai's movies, cause of van sant's smart direction.

just watched this with the gf, we both liked it. Responses to skimming this thread - I didn't find the shower scene that homoerotic, more just in love with the beauty of the falling streams of water. I also loved the breakup scene. That skate park is, I think, right next to where the 2006 Halleluwah festival was in Portland. Also liked the shot of him walking through the leaves. None of the long shots seemed as long as I was expecting after reading reviews, it was more like a satisfying exercise of attention span than a chore.

I liked this a lot but I'm kind of with Alba - I loved Elephant and Last Days, as far as I'm concerned GVS can just make movies like this one after another and I'll never get tired of them. This one slightly less (the Macy problem - although I thought that was complicated, because plenty of adolescents are in that I'm-on-camera mode all the time) but Christopher Doyle!! that dude is a legend, the movie looked unbelievable

Gosford Park > Paranoid Park > Ken Park

Gerry was his best in years, diminishing returns since.

also, skateboarders aren't all morons I guess, but it's the way to bet

Wait, where did you see Ken Park?

a Lincoln Center screening, years back. Lou Reed and John Waters were there.

also, this PP boy is not 'beautiful' unless yr a real perv.

...

i loved this

I really loved this as well, but (to bring my bullshit over here from the general GVS thread) -

I do still think the ENDLESS lingering shots of billowy-lipped, hairless, baby-faced skateboard boys can come at the expense of other concerns (GVS and Larry Clark in a battle to the finish).

Also, Panic in Needle Park > Punishment Park > The Park is Mine.

I got a perfect looking "Ken Park" bootleg off eBay for 5 bucks. It's worth seeing!

the sound design in the long shot in the shower was great I thought

other parts struck me as "just because it's slooowwwww doesn't mean it's profound"

Oh, not Gosford Park again.

didn't like this one bit.

too much music.

The Nina Rota stuff was pretty random and out of place.

what stuck w/me a few month later: the simplicity of the story telling - best example was when his father is revealed - just seeing what he looks like shows so much abt the roots of kids problems

the narrative was so much better than any other gvs its kinda shocking - just compare to the aimlesses of last days omg - not that im trashing that mode but if gvs could do like this before why didnt he

well, is it possible he stuck somewhat close to the novel? I prefer Gerry-style "aimlessness."

Rota in this context was foolish... and why wasn't about-to-croak Johnny Cash in end credits?

ditto on sound design in shower, very nice. Also liked Detective Lu's questions about Subway.

Eric, surely you prefer Gosford Park to ... oh, nevermind.

To what, O.C. & Stiggs and Popeye? Nope, not really.

yah morbs i thought the same abt the novel - but some of the moves were so deft its not like you could just import them from a book

i <3 gerry to prob my 2nd fav after this one

SPOILERS

Also liked Detective Lu's questions about Subway.

Definitely - my biggest question watching the movie was "is a 6 inch Subway sandwich really 6 bucks?" (followed just behind with: "Would a guy who's been bisected really be able to crawl forward like that?")

I loved the little brother reciting scenes from "Napolean Dynamite," too. So natural!

yes, and thank Christ I had no idea what he was quoting or i might've gotten sick.

ha. yeah that was funny. -xp

That scene was one of the most believable. Kids really do talk with their brothers and sisters in movie quotes.

You didn't figure it out when he used the name Napoleon? I didn't pick up on it right away, but that served as a pretty big context clue, even though I've never see ND.

i lold hard at that part - def way better if youve seen nd - the contrast in tone between the scene and the scenes he was describing is amazing

Van Sant has never had sex with a virgin
via imdb boards:

I've never heard of a virgin calling their friend immediately after the deed and saying OMG IT WAS AMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAZIIIIIIIIIIIIING.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Gus Van Sant is gay.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
OK, I am Bisexual and I get awfully tired of "The Gay excuse" being proferred as the reason for ANY perceived inaccuracy in how STR8's are portrayed in movies!
This is silly.
First of all, any Teen wanting to NAIL her very resistant B/F is going to ring up her Bud and brag to the hills about having convinced him to "do the deed".
That, in her mind, was HER victory and she ain't gonna let THAT go unnoticed.
Also, Gay people are quite aware of how STR8's behave, and thank you very much.
In fact,many of us have masqueraded at being STR8 for so long & played along with society's expectations of us, that we frequently have a pretty good handle on how to "play it straight".
Van Sant hangs with straights, as do many Gays, thanks.
WE observe.
WE KNOW.
- - - - - - - - - -
i thought this scene was just one misfire of many. it's my personal experience that having sex with a girl for their first time results in lots of pain, uncomfortableness, and even blood and agony.

i haven't seen this yet, but the av club "book vs film" article made it sound like the movie was pretty close to the book, except with some questionable timeline choices.

best example was when his father is revealed - just seeing what he looks like shows so much abt the roots of kids problems

i thought it revealed more about the sort of men Van Sant wants to put in a film (because he finds them hot) regardless of whether it's good casting or not.

http://www.avclub.com/content/blog/book_vs_film_paranoid_park

no jed goddamnit it showed that his father was himself a child

Which GVS obv finds pretty attractive.

Huh, I didn't even realize it was a book, it fits so well into GVS's oeuvre.

it's my personal experience that having sex with a girl for their first time results in lots of pain, uncomfortableness, and even blood and agony.

the dad didnt look like child you guys - he behaved like one - get it

jmc, I find some children's voices really hard to understand and listen to, even moreso than stupid teenagers'.

Fair enough. The kid definitely had the breathless "and then, and then" thing going on.

yep, I'm surprised I wasn't stuck next to him on the subway this morning.

Best thing about this movie was the sound - that scene when he's motionless in the shower and you just hear the sound of the water getting louder and louder and then it cuts out altogether and you're just left with the crickets really resonated with me for some reason. They used a similar trick several times (girlfriend dumping scene for example) and it always worked. Really helped get inside the head of a character with little identifiable personality of his own.

Will watch it tonight.

bring coffee

Considering how his last three films horrified me, Vivrin might be a better idea.

funnier than Apatow

More relevant than Haynes.

no billowy lips in Apatow's werk = Apatow wins.

xpost God love it, you'd think we both just perused all 1100+ posts of the 2007 detrius thread.

"relevant" to this time & place can blow me.

i watched paranoid park today and it made me think of jaymc and n/a (as in "aww teenagers" vs. "ugh teenagers").

― Tracy Michael Jordan Catalano (Jordan), Saturday, December 13, 2008 2:11 PM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i thought this was okay but the only thing that really blew me away was the sound design (specifically all those impressionistic sound effects, like screaming or crowd noise in the middle of a scene).

it was okay. bad lighting!

finally got around to seeing this ... it was really good, best movie i've seen in a while. i liked how the varieties of music and film stock in the skateboarding scenes displaced it in time so that it seemed like it could have been happening any time between like 1970 and now. the music was a little odd and obtrusive at times (like the use of "i can help") but eventually seemed to work

brother quoting napolean dynamite ad nauseum was great

this thread is nice to read. have not seen this since it came out but liked it a lot; like a nature film but about teenagers. i remember the scene in the cafe when the kid was trying to convey thoughts on life in a slightly cliched teenageresque way, talking about getting jobs and things, and it was done with so little condescension or irony, instead really conveying the beginning of disillusionment. i remember thinking the same thing with leigh's happy go lucky; really nice to see sensitive, non-anthropological filmmaking.

also like the obscuring of the parents. it was a little gimmicky but worked as a representation of the selfishness of teenagers but also the shittiness of his situation - neither of his parents "matter" until his dad makes a genuine effort to reach out to him

i really want to see this!

this is such a good film

I wish he'd go on making these forever.

damn this is a weird, oddly hypnotic movie - leans a little too much on the slow-mo+music interludes but really nicely shot and acted.

the murder is very weird/jarring tho. lulled along into this dreamy teenage world and then OH LOOK THERE'S A GUY CHOPPED IN HALF

Good description--liked this a lot. I think it helped that, after a couple of viewings of Elephant, I finally got into the rhythm of that. The skateboarding sequences are beautiful.

IT'S LIKE LARRY CLARK MINUS THE TITS

i think the murder is great because it's so jarring! torso crawling around was awesomely gratuitous