Paranoid Park, Gus Van Sant's first film since his aesthetically and thematically linked death trilogy (Gerry, Elephant, Last Days), represents yet another moment when Van Sant sheds his most recent style and takes inspiration in something new. Adapted from a book by Blake Nelson, Paranoid Park is a coming-of-age tale about Alex (Gabe Nevins), a teenage skater who responds to the world around him with a humble disinterest. He is unmoved by everything, be it the war in Iraq, his parents divorce, or the sexual advances of the cute girl who calls herself his girlfriend. Only when he makes his first visit to the title skate park -- a place so intimidating that, at first, he's not sure he can handle it -- does the young man discover something that alters his perception of both himself and the world.
At his best, Van Sant imbues mundane reality with potent lyricism. In that regard, Paranoid Park may be the most quintessential expression of his outsized talent. With the help of the supremely gifted cinematographer Christopher Doyle, Van Sant loads the film with slow camera moves that at first communicate the main character's disassociation, but later help explain the beauty and the weight of the world as he now perceives it. Newcomer Gabe Nevins imbues Alex with a startling amount of commonality. He is neither a romanticized loner nor an unstable troublemaker, but simply an inarticulate -- though certainly not unintelligent -- 16-year-old trying to come to grips with a profound loss of innocence. From lying to his mother to listening to his overly sensitive younger brother to just driving around in his mom's car, Alex can and does interact with those around him, but his life-changing night at Paranoid Park makes him appreciate everybody, including himself, just a little more.
Paranoid Park is a quiet film full of subtle but important moments of character development that are intensely moving thanks to the unobtrusively beautiful camerawork and the naturalistic acting. Even if the movie's low-key modesty will keep many people from considering it among the greatest of Van Sant's films, it might very well be his most representative. Gus Van Sant remains one of the few commercially successful directors willing to continually reinvent himself.