Paranoid Park is Gus Van Sant's latest foray into the psyche of discarded American youths. It is a contemporary Crime and Punishment, which recreates Dostoevsky's world of introspection, tension and guilt in Portland, Oregon's skate parks. Although fraught with inconsistent performances and characters, the filmmaker's adaptation of Blake Nelson's novel has created an incredible aural and visual piece of art. Parnoid Park focuses on Alex (Gabe Nevins), a pseudo-asexual, introspective, depressed youth from Portland whose desire for significance and acceptance results in a tragic accident and subsequent moral torture. The movie is shot semi-achronologically, which clearly identifies the "event" early on, but lets the viewer focus on the banal torture of Alex both before and after the accident. However, Paranoid Park's plot is more or less irrelevant; while there are some key events and locations that give structure to the movie, Van Sant is more focused on the "throwaway kids" of America and how they deal with life's serious questions. It is a slow - sometimes painfully so - but carefully edited psychological exploration of teenage America. The tragedy, Van Sant seems to insist, is that of continued misunderstanding and alienation. It also helps that the movie is truly stunning. Jam-packed with the subtle genius of Christopher Doyle, Paranoid Park makes heavy use of slow pans, invasive close-ups and majestically morose slow motion shots, all of which are perfectly complemented by great music. Gus Van Sant decided to cast local non-professionals for most of the parts in the movie. Some of these choices were incredible; Alex's silent charm, honesty and visible mental strife are incredibly convincing. Yet some of the characters are unpleasantly awkward. The discomfort they elicit does not seem purposeful and results in unconvincing performances. Additionally, Paranoid Park suffers from noticeably weak female characters that range from the absurdly inane and asinine to the ineptly shy. Regardless of its faults, Paranoid Park is a beautiful and methodical examination of urban youth.

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