We wrote our review for Gus Van Sant’s latest film, “Paranoid Park” back during the New York Film Festival. Since the movie comes out this weekend, we thought we’d just repost it, rather than rewrite it (our feelings on the film have essentially not changed).
Gus Van Sant has been fixated on a minimalist, experimental type of filmmaking since the beginning of this decade (“Gerry,” “Elephant” and “Last Days” comprise what people call his “death trilogy”) and his approach with his latest effort, “Paranoid Park,” is much the same including his penchant for chronological puzzles/time displacement and his fondness for experimental, musique concrète and abstract music (A special 60th anniversary prize went to Van Sant’s film at Cannes this year), not to mention a lyrical and sometimes unfocused approach.
About a teenage skater kid whose life begins to fray after he accidentally kills a security guard and tries to keep it secret, as the London Telegraph perfectly puts it, “few American directors rival Gus Van Sant’s ability to create lush, beautifully lensed and strangely enigmatic odes to the vulnerability of teenage boys,” and this nails it.
Photographed with typical gorgeousness by longtime Wong Kar-Wai associate Christopher Doyle, the film branches out and utilizes some brave and dreamy musical choices by Fellini collaborator Nino Rota (brave as they might be distracting to some cinephiles).
Another notable addition to Van Sant’s experimental stage is departed musical collaborator Elliott Smith who wrote most of the material used in his breakthrough film, “Good Will Hunting.” Van Sant almost uses Smith’s material as lyrical and simple music videos where almost entire songs play out in full. The Elliott Smith era track “The White Lady Loves You More” is used in a gorgeous slo-motion shot and he does more film cannibalization – this time his own – by once more using Smith’s “Angeles,” in another minimalist one-shot.
However, aside from Nino Rota (whose collage of music is all over the film, including themes from “Juliet of the Spirits,” and “Amarcord,” that stand in drastic emotional juxtaposition to the lead characters numbed mindset), the one person you’ll think of musically when you walk away from this film is electro-acoustic Portland artist Ethan Rose whose swirling, evocative and lush soundscapes (think the instrumental parts of Icelandic electronic band Múm) are really the centerpoint of the dreamier tones of the film.
The dense sound design is also bolstered by Montreal electroacoustic musician Robert Normandeau and Francis White’s sound installation music “Walk Through Resonant Landscape” which is used to incredibly powerful effect in a shower sequence (again mining his own work, Van Sant used this same sound piece in “Elephant”). All of the music featured in the film is listed out here.
While the film might not be quite as effective as his past few experiments (his cast plucked from myspace casting attempts are sometimes amateur-ish), Van Sant does have an ear for the teenage voice and experience and that strength is evident here once again and at the very least the marriage of visuals and music is extremely stirring. [B+]
In short, it might be our least favorite of Van Sant’s experimental phase, though it’s probably on par with “Last Days” (though many don’t seem to like that film).
“Paranoid Park” hit theaters until this weekend, Friday March 7, 2008. A 19-song soundtrack disc that covers most of the key tracks in the film was released October 15 in France (you can pay 18 Euros for it) but if a U.S. counterpart is coming, there’s been no news so far.
Trailer: “Paranoid Park”