This is the latest little gem from Gus Van Sant, consistently my favorite American director. It follows a few days in the life of Alex (Gabe Nevins), suburban teenager in Portland and part of what a cop refers to as “the skateboarding community.†There is a murder mystery that forms the spine of this short (84 minute) movie, but it is neither important nor terribly interesting. As always, Van Sant wants to explore the peculiar, affectless, forms of alienation (which in this case are pretty mild) in American teenagers, and to do so while giving us a series of breathtakingly beautiful images. Continue reading Paranoid Park