For Your Consideration "No one's ever ready for Paranoid Park" quips one of the characters in this skateboarding drama. And I guess I wasn't really ready for it either, given that it's a Van Sant film and something about his films just leave me feeling cold. This was no different, in that I did think it was well made, had some good ideas and even executed well but I just couldn't get totally into it.
Why was this? Well, for one the distracting voiceover really put me off. It felt like it was the first time the lead had ever recorded anything and while I'm sure that was by design from Gus, it just brought me out of it every single time. That said, the use of non-actors did achieve a very natural feel throughout the film and Christopher Doyle's cinematography is pretty magnificent, as usual.
I do feel this is a solid effort, with a few annoying flaws. There's a little too many skateboarding scenes, and not enough tension anywhere. Other than 1 scene, you get the feeling the kid doesn't care about anything and really I refuse to believe his relationship with his girlfriend as he seems to be at the only school where there isn't a football team and the cheerleaders go out with the dorky skaters. But that's really just being picky.
It's a solid film, one that I'm glad I watched and I might try and watch some more of Van Sant's stuff from here so thanks duder!
7/10
As for it's Filmspot considerations, I do believe it deserves to be mentioned for Sound Editing, Cinematography and to a lesser extent Soundtrack; the other's - not so much.