Yes! At least thats what writer and director Gus Van Sant says in his Paranoid Park, his adaptation of Blake Nelson’s novel.

This movie is the next in a series of movies that Gus Van Sant has made since he supposedly “broke out of Hollywood.” It follows the story of Alex, a teenager (more like tween); who is supposedly disconnected, like you know most teens are nowadays, and I guess for that reason can’t seem to formulate a sentence that includes more than a subject and a verb.

If you want to know more, then keep reading!

Anyways, the story follows Alex as he borrows his mom’s car, breaks up with his jail-bait girlfriend, hooks up with hardcore skater dudes, and ends up involved in the death of a security guard at the local train yard. Granted the movie does move from one scene to the next in a flowing elegance that is very evocative of Hungarian director Bela Tarr’s work. Yet if the movie is supposed to present us with a glimpse inside the mind or memory of a teenager, I somehow fail to recognize where that comes in. I don’t know about you but when im riding my skateboard im not really listening to dissonant french music, or a western ballad. Also in reference to the title of this review, Gus Van Sant seems to think that all of our [teen] memories are out of focus and in slow-motion. While this does serve as an interesting device when crafting the story line, at times these “devices” seem to get in the way of actually enjoying the movie. Even to the point where you get tired of watching Alex’s creepy friend Jared blink at the camera as he is driving.

There is one more point I must mention and that is the performance of Alex’s jail-bait girlfriend, whom I shall keep referring to as jail-bait because I don’t remember her name. Her performance is laughable at best, and i could feel the audience shooting each other glances everytime she came on screen. It’s as if jail-bait was performing some sort of skit for her camera to be posted on her you-tube/myspace/facebook page. Her pretend anger and passion seemed to evoke in me images of a failed 8th grade play I was once in, rather than the true interactions I have/am having as a teenager.

All in all, this movie still remains more plausible than most supposed “teen-flicks” out there. Its flowing camera work, more believable characters than any other “teen” movie you’re going to see out there, and driving story-line make for a kind-of-sort-of-not-really compelling movie. On a scale of zero to Windtalkers I would rate this a Ten-Times-Better-Than-Windtalkers.

RENT IT, DON’T WATCH IT IN THEATERS. SAVE YOUR MONEY