This is probably what you’d call an arthouse film. There isn’t much of a plot, though there is a little mystery that’s revealed half-way through. But apart from that nothing really happens in this movie.
But the point of the movie is all in the style it is presented and the state of mind of the main character. It is meant for the audience to feel what this teenager is experiencing, through the help of filmmaking.
That’s a cryptic way of saying that this is not your typical movie. The star of the story is Alex, a teenager skateboarder who is involved in a murder. The story is not told linearly, instead we jump back and forth, often repeating certain scenes with different sound. The first time we don’t hear the dialog, instead Alex might be narrating or a song is playing. The second time we know more about the context of the scene, and we hear the dialog, and learn what the scene was about.
There are also many scenes of skateboarders with a soundtrack playing, and they have nothing to do with the plot at all, but they’re meant to be what Alex is thinking about or is seeing. I must admit I thought there were too many of those scenes, I really wanted to get back to Alex.
Another stylistic choice made by director Gus Van Sant is that almost all adults are blurred or far from the camera, or their face is not in the frame. That’s a specific choice to make us feel like we are viewing this from Alex’s point of view. So in his world adults don’t play such a big role. The only exception was the cop, Alex obviously paid much attention to him.
I think this film completely achieves its goal of immersing ourselves into Alex’s mind. I did enjoy this movie a lot, but I admit I prefer a story with a bit more plot to it. At the end I just felt there was something missing. This is not a movie for everybody, but it’s definitely a different experience.
Rating: 3.5 Stars