Gus van Sant: Paranoid park

I just finished watching Paranoid park, the latest of many brilliant movies directed by Gus van Sant. This is a movie in which van Sant stays true to his style, but that doesn't mean it's packed with mannerisms. He still re-invents himself, develops his fine-tuned sensibility for pictures, movement and sound. The cinematography of Paranoid park is a mix of "raw" scenes that could've been filmed by a mobile phone, and more smooth material. The films contains lots and lots of the slow, contemplative moments that characterize his earlier films. Most of the time, he creates a surpringly tender perspective on the characters. By telling the story through a confession-like narrative told by the leading character, Alex, the film treads a fine line between trashing the story by making things too clear-cut and dealing with the subject, remorse, in a proper way. What is interesting about the use of confessional voice-over in this movie, is that van Sant does not rely on a simply "this is how things happened" technique, simply adding a layer of 'subjectivity' by telling the story from a particular point of view. The voice-over in Paranoid park reveals the story in snippets. The voice-over consists of panicky fragments and repetition. Many of the scenes in the films are actually shown two times. The point of all this is - I guess - to come to grips with the difficulty of confession, of one's inclinations to shy away from the ugliness of truth.

This is not a flawless movie. I did not alway appreciate the use of music, pop music and classical music. The inclusion of Elliott Smith material felt awkward and ... sentimental. I also had some problems with the way some of the characters were reduced to stereotypes. At most times, van Sant displays a rare gift of giving an account of youth culture that comes out both real and relevant. For that reason, I was all the more surprised and disappointed to be introduced to the "typical popular girl" and "the tough kid at school". But his ear for dialogue is still remarkable. This is, in my opinion, something that sets him apart from most contemporary directors. But van Sant is not trading in grisly naturalism. The awkwardness & silences of the dialogues in his films create a tender, otherworldly atmosphere.