I really liked it. Some of the acting is terrible, but it’s not all bad. The super 8 scenes of the skateboarders with the ambient music are so great. One of my favorite movies out of recent releases.
Didn’t like it either.Inarticulate,dull witted skaterats just don’t interest me very much. Van Sant either makes movies I love (Milk, Drugstore Cowboy) or hate(Gerry, Elephant).
Cute boys in trouble. What’s not to like?
I thought it was great. Now Last Days, THERE’S one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen. Oh my God, if you thought Paranoid Park was bad, my friend….you have no idea what bad is……
When this showed in a theater, I was waiting for people to start leaving. I was actually embarrassed while watching it, because it’s not a conservative movie at all. It’s extremely loose, and “free” which is a charm I bought only afterward. It’s definitely something to cherish, I think, because Van Sant just seems to do what he wants with his editing. It’s definitely an artists movie, and an endeavor more professional and widely known directors today should be taking up. I also like his defiance against using known actors, and just completely blanketing over that one actors’ dialogue with music. It’s so sloppy, and I love it.
Masterpiece.
David-More like dim boys in trouble. What’s to like? Sorry, but none of the characters engaged me at all. i never cared about them one bit. I have no problems with alternative ways of telling a story but that alone does not make a movie good.
I just could never get into the story, as I was too blinded by the ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLE acting. I mean, I understand what the story was, and what was going on, it was just really painful to watch the acting. I was VERY aware that I was watching someone act. Didn’t buy any of the characters. Especially his goth girlfriend who drinks coffee, and his friend who he skates with. Just terrible, and that just will now allow me to get into any movie. He was tolerable but, damn!
My sister used to act in plays when we were kids, and the whole thing was very similar to a bunch of inexperienced 12 years old’s butcher their way through a script. Hey! What do ya know! Ha
There was not a single quality about this film that I liked. Even Doyle’s cinematography was poor.
really enjoyed this movie and van sant continuing themes of loneliness and the depressing extroverts he follows and examines. though doyle is a great cinematographer i wish harris savides would have been able to have lensed the film. fantastic work in elephant and last days.
Doyle is also IN the film. He plays the father’s boyfriend.
the movie is not for everyone and not great, but I think the film was decent, even though it lacked a cohesive “point”. I agree with aoaijea, that the movie is very free, and that that seems to be a theme in his last few films (Elephant and Last Days). I like the idea of putting nobodies in these films so that you, the audience member, can relate a little more easily with the character because it isn’t someone famous, it is just some person and that person could be you. plus, these 3 films are indie flicks and they are supposed to be ultra artsy and out there?
Loved it.
Everyone seemed to have criticized the “dim,” and “stupid” characters in the film. That is one of the best elements. They are high school students, not rocket scientists. I just got out of high school, and knew some of these skater dudes, and he captures it perfectly. I don’t know what people want, really, if he made all the characters geniuses, and had them debating metaphors in Ulysses, or something like that, people would have said the film was unrealistic. That the characters were too smart for high school kids.
It is a great meditation on life in public school.
I don’t get the hate for Paranoid Park. Are skaterats by nature unsuitable, as subjects? And why should they be voluble and witty, volleying repartee back & forth like sitcom drones, or else plumbing their feelings?
That said, there wasn’t one damned thing in the film I didn’t like or appreciate—as with Elephant, and as with Last Days (Gerry is as much a one-off experiment as Psycho). Van Sant is a master who labors under the disadvantage of being a filmmaker native to the U.S.—because too often we (the cohort of cinephiles) shit on our geniuses to lavish praise on filmmakers from anywhere else, even if it’s just over our borders. (Lynch is uniquely exempted – even Scorcese is shit upon as much as he’s praised, here!)
“Van Sant either makes movies I love (Milk, Drugstore Cowboy) or hate(Gerry, Elephant).”
I think that’s a very common point of division—between the Tarr-influenced films (Gerry, Elephant, Last Days) and the more commercial-orientated, narrative-driven- films (To Die For, Drugstore Cowboy, Good Will Hunting).
Can’t agree with you at all, sorry.I really enjoyed it.
I loved it. It was insanely moody (which I love), moderately paced and really put me in the mindframe of the main character. Definitely a nice suprise
I really have been a fan of Gus Van Sant’s recent art house films and Paranoid Park might be the the best of them. The film is slow but creates a dark atmosphere that helps us to show the character’s psychological state. I also love how the story sidesteps many of the cliches of films that usually deal with teenagers and the subject of murder (especially the ending). The film was much more interesting and more deserving of critical praise then his well crafted biopic Milk.
the organizational principle of this thread is “this movie sucks, who agrees with me?”
try actually explaining why you dislike something BEFORE you try to engage in a discourse about it, that is if you have actual critical faculties. It helps keep this site from being a haven for snarky assholes.
It seems your complaint is based on the use of non-professional actors, without offering details as to why this is objectionable. It sounds like you’re against the entire idea of this, which means you’re actually rallying against one of the richest traditions in the Cinema, seemingly without knowing it. According to your posts, your gripe is with a style, not with a particular movie. You aren’t making criticisms, you’re merely pointing out an essential property of the film and saying you don’t like it, without saying why you actually object to the thing you’re complaining about. You sound like a child who doesn’t know what he’s talking about.
I’m not SUPER crazy about the film either for a few reasons, but I am fond of it. Nevertheless, it has elements worth defending (or at least exploring). If you’re going to belligerently hate, you could at least go Armond White on it and entertain/infuriate us all.
Uzak- I thought Doyle’s use of super 16 was breathtaking, but in general, this film didn’t require his talents. It did look a lot better on film than on DVD though. It doesn’t quite work on video (or at least work as well).
I thought it was good. Last Days was absolutely horrendous, though. At least van Sant has Elephant and Milk, though.
I thought it was good. Last Days was absolutely horrendous, though. At least van Sant has Elephant and Milk, though.
This is one of my favorite Gus Van Sant films. I understand why some people hate it (I hate Last Days and am not a huge fan of My Own Private Idaho) but for those who can get into it, it’s a really cool experience. Chris Doyle’s work is mesmerizing and the whole thing just feels like an atmospheric exercise in emotion – both in a specific time and space. That may sound like a bunch of hooey but articulating a Gus Van Sant film is not always the easiest thing. After Elephant, I don’t thing there’s a Van Sant film I appreciate more.
Awesome
Paranoid Park is Gus Van Sant’s 400 Blows
It’s not Van Sant’s best work, but it’s still a fantastic film. I’d say that the nonlinear storyline and the cinematography are probably it’s best assets, but so much of it is top notch that it’s really debatable. Paranoid Park has gotten a lot of heat for the acting, but other than the performance of the girl who tells him to write the letter in the scene in the diner (which is only two or three minutes long), I was quite impressed by the whole cast. Still, though, nothing beats Elephant.
It’s not Van Sant’s best work, but it’s still a fantastic film. I’d say that the nonlinear storyline and the cinematography are probably it’s best assets, but so much of it is top notch that it’s really debatable. Paranoid Park has gotten a lot of heat for the acting, but other than the performance of the girl who tells him to write the letter in the scene in the diner (which is only two or three minutes long), I was quite impressed by the whole cast. Still, though, nothing beats Elephant.
Hypnotic. The best Van Sant film since Last Days.
I wrote a piece about “Paranoid Park” for “Film Comment” about a year or so back. It’s the issue with Meryl Streep on the cover. Everything I have to say about the film is in that piece.
There is no easy formula or slogan I can give anyone to make them like this film.
Or any other film for that matter.
Your minds are made up — with hospital corners.
Yet you keep coming in here day after day, hour after hour, pretending to ask for explanatiosn, defenses, et. al. in the form of eas-to-digest bites. Cause you’re not interested in serious critcal analysis at all.
Sorry, but there’s no film out there equipped to give you the blow-job and ass-fucking you need.
Joseph C Hidy III
I keep seeing great reviews of this, I finally watched it. It is THE worst movie I have ever seen. It made Wassup Rockers look like a masterpiece. Is there anyone out there that would agree with me?