Eugene Hernandez of indieWIRE is laying down the buzz in Cannes, and it’s no real surprise Julian Schnabel (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly), the Coen brothers (No Country For Old Men) and Gus Van Sant (Paranoid Park) are getting the spotlight. (Of course, there’s a certain status a filmmaker can attain where they become the buzz just by stepping off the plane at a festival. I’d say these filmmakers are in that camp and for good reason.)
Among these three films, it’s Hernandez’ synopsis of Van Sant’s Paranoid Park which has both the former skater and former art student inside me hugging and jumping up and down with anticipation:
As for the sound and look, Van Sant has woven a number of natural audio and soundscape work into the soundtrack, utilizing some musique concrete that is built upon real world sounds. Much of it is work by musician and sound artist Ethan Rose. For the images, Van Sant worked with frequent Won Kar Wai collaborator Christopher Doyle and Rain Kathy Li as his D.P. The duo utilized some Super 8 footage, shot by a local who regularly shoots in the park, for scenes of the kids skating. And they slowed it down for its usage in the film. “Because neither of us are skaters, (using slow motion was) the only way to approximate what we (wanted)…to try to give it a form that we know, celebrating this incredible energy. The physicality of skating,” said Doyle.
