DVD Reviews

Paranoid Park

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After a mainstream flirt with Good Will Hunting, To Die For and Psycho, Gus Van Sant has returned to his indie roots of late with Elephant, Last Days and now Paranoid Park. With a cast of unknowns and newcomers, the story sees teenager and avid skateboarder Alex (Nevins) involved with the death of a security guard who was killed on the rail tracks close to the titular skate park. Although existentialism in youth is explored, Paranoid Park is no Kids or Ken Park - it's not as gritty or depressing, and plot plays too much of a role for that. The plot, however, is a threadbare, ragbag ensemble, something that the narrator (Alex) - who admits he didn't do too well in creative writing - apologises for (which was nice of him): it's his story and he's telling it the only way he can. Van Sant tries to fluff out the plot by slowing down the action whenever he can, using slow motion and some musical interludes to a questionable effect - if the script (adapted from Blake Nelson's novel) wasn't there to begin with, maybe the film shouldn't have been made, because if the fluff was cut out, it would come in under an hour. Another sticky point is Alex: even though we spend every waking moment with him, we really don't feel any depth, we don't get to his heart, and we never know what makes him tick and he ends up feeling like a brief sketch rather than a fully-fledged person. That's not Nevins's fault, though, as he does exactly what the script asks him to do - it's just that the script doesn't ask him to do a hell of a lot.
Details: France / USA / 90mins (15A)

Review by Gavin Burke