Gus Van Sant, Paranoid Park

Photo Credit: Kathryn Durfee

by Freeman Montaque
03/09/2008

Not many people could take a group of mostly non-actors from a casting call on MySpace and put them in the forefront of a film about a teenage skateboarder who lives aimlessly throughout the entirety of a movie. Then again, not many people know how to tap into the psyche of the modern teenager like Gus Van Sant. As he has shown in the past with projects such as Elephant and My Own Private Idaho, Van Sant proves yet again how he has a handle on the quiet, indifferent adolescent with Paranoid Park, one of his best films to date.

The film follows Alex (Gabe Nevins), a high school teen who lives a relatively ordinary, boring life. He’s dealing with the recent divorce of his parents and the current situation with cheerleader girlfriend Jennifer (Taylor Momsen), whose pretty adamant about the two having sex before too long. That monotonous routine of daily life changes when Alex inadvertently causes the death of a security guard at a train station near Paranoid Park (a haven for adolescent skate boarders).

To use a blanketed, generalized statement, virtually every decision Van Sant makes works, even when it may not seem like it at first. Initially, you’re not sure if some of the actors work because their delivery seems so awkward, particularly when you compare Alex to Macy (Lauren McKinney). But the characters grow on you, and it doesn’t take long to realize that Van Sant’s casting decisions were accurate after all. Two actors that seem to fit their roles immediately are Momsen and Dan Liu, who plays Detective Richard Lu. Momsen is one of the few performers who brings acting experience to the table, and it shows. She is always engaging whenever she’s on screen, and she seems to be aware of exactly how her body language looks through the lens, though none of her actions seem forced or artificial. Liu is not in the film long, but the interaction between his character and Alex proves to be one of the true highlights of the movie. His interrogation of Alex, specifically, questioning what he ate at Subway, is both believable and humorous.

When I first viewed the film last summer at the Cannes Film Festival, it received a standing ovation, and Nevins garnered the most praise. There’s a reason for that. While he may not be as experienced as Momsen or others, Nevins does carry the film, and that’s saying something, once you consider that this is his first acting job in a motion picture. Even the most accomplished actors may find it difficult to pull off a role where you portray a character sleepwalking through life who doesn’t bore the audience and, at the same time, manages to maintain a sort of awkward yet engaging presence. Nevins pulls this off effortlessly, and it’s hard to imagine a list of other well-known actors who could pull the role off with the same amount of sympathetic charm.

The song choices Van Sant picks seem appropriate as well. The film mixes elements of classical compositions and alternative music to blend with the melancholy atmosphere, and the result is right on target. And as he has also done in past films, including his most commercial hit Good Will Hunting, Van Sant utilizes the vocals of late singer Elliott Smith as the major vessel for lyrical thought. Needless to say, this fits perfectly into the film, as the songs often times mirror the mindset of Alex. If you didn’t know any better, you’d think each song was specifically written for the film.

Cinematographers Christopher Doyle and Rain Kathy Li use many of Van Sant’s signature tracking shots and long takes throughout the film. Unlike a movie like Elephant, however, the camera work never seems to dwell on certain images longer than is necessary. The use of slow motion perhaps seems more fitting here than in previous works because of the sluggish persona we can attribute to our protagonist. The camera speeds up appropriately when it needs to, such as when we finally see the security agent’s sliced body between the train tracks. Some of the captured images are flat-out gorgeous, particularly when Alex takes a shower after the train incident. It’s like watching a human painting come to life.

As are the majority of his films, Gus Van Sant’s Paranoid Park may not be to everyone’s liking. Some may find the pacing too slow and the experimentation with the camera too eccentric. Others, especially fans of the director’s work, will be happy to know that after mediocre works like Gerry and Last Days, Van Sant is back in top form here with yet another insightful glimpse into the world of the adolescent teenager.

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