Dir. Gus Van Sant
(2012, R, 106 minutes)
I’ve noted in past reviews that there seem to be two kinds of Gus Van Sant film: the easily accessible kind in the vein of Good Will Hunting and Milk, and the darker, more inward kind like Paranoid Park and My Own Private Idaho. The latter variety doesn’t always appeal to me, but when he directs a more straightforward project, even when it’s good, it seems less personal, lacking his strong stylistic signature.
Dir. Gus Van Sant
(1991, R, 104 min)
It’s hard to know what Gus Van Sant you’ll get on any given day. Sometimes it’s the deeply inward, taciturn filmmaker of Paranoid Park and Elephant. Other times it’s the eccentric, experimental man of Psycho. And then comes the much more conventional director of films like Good Will Hunting, Milk, and Finding Forrester. My Own Private Idaho, from 1991, is one of his earliest films and falls more into the second category (though it bears little resemblance to his Psycho remake). It’s strange and wildly uneven, but when it works it works well.
Dir. Gus Van Sant
(R) ★ ★ ★ ½
I debated myself on the way home from Milk. I took notes full of stylistic criticisms and disappointments, and soon I was almost convinced I hadn’t seen a very good film. However, I knew I had seen a very good film, one that affected and galvanized me. Its story has an emotional power beyond any qualms about its aesthetics.
Dir. Gus Van Sant
(R) ★ ★ ★
There are a lot of empty spaces in Paranoid Park. Writer-director Gus Van Sant favors slow-motion, hanging moments, and silences. He is less concerned with plot than with delving into the internal life of his main character, Alex (Gabe Nevins, one of the film’s many debut actors). The film is told from Alex’s point of view, but few films are as effective at expressing a character’s psyche from the inside out.
Filmic 