Paranoid Park

          This Gus Van Sant-directed psychological drama is about a skater boy who is haunted by the fact that he accidentally killed a security guard at the train tracks. He also has his side problems: not being good enough of a skateboarder to look cool at the notorious skate park called "Paranoid Park," having a slightly-obsessive cheerleader girlfriend, and experiencing his parents' divorce. Throughout the movie he is writing a letter to someone whom we don't find out until later on, so most of the psychological sequences in this movie are of him writing, skating, freaking out in school, or moping around the house the many times when he is home alone. Your perception of this movie is all dependent on Gus -- the man behind the curtain. If you're a fan of Gus, then you will like this movie. If you aren't, then you just might not get it. I'm not trying to undermine anyone's intelligence here, but his movies often have a certain slow pace with nonprofessional teen actors (as in Elephant), whose sometimes-poor acting skills (notably at the end of Paranoid Park) can be a nuisance if you don't have a certain appreciation for Gus's way of shooting things. It took me five of his movies but I am finally used to his style, and I like it now. Sure, I have my problems with Elephant, as illustrated in my review of it, but I enjoy Gus's unique style of peeling back the layers to what truly matters: a good story.