Palo Alto

“Palo Alto” is not an easy movie to watch. James Franco has depicted a society where drugs and boredom are rampant and affluent teens drift through a world, largely ignored by the adults who ought to be helping them. Teddy (Jack Kilmer) steals the show as a sensitive but directionless suburban teen who is perpetually wasted and never far away from trouble. When he hits another vehicle while driving drunk and stoned, the police track him down to his own driveway. The woman in the car with the policeman (the victim of the hit-and-run) gets out of the car and, upon seeing Teddy, exclaims “It’s a kid!” - an observation which seems to escape everyone else.Teddy, it turns out, has done this sort of thing before; but instead of a stiff penalty, and despite the fact that Teddy is totally disrespectful to the cops, he gets another slap on the wrist: community service at a children’s library and face-to-face apology to the woman he hit with his vehicle. In the restaurant where he meets to apologize to the woman, she totally excuses his actions, to his evident surprise, because he is an “alcoholic”, and can’t be held responsible for this “disease”. An old man sitting next to Teddy in the booth, probably the woman’s dad, says, “Yeah, but if you’re an alcoholic, and then you drive drunk, you’re an a..hole.” Teddy smiles secretly to himself (because it’s true), but totally buys in to the “alcoholism” way of explaining things; it lets him off the hook, but it does not help him in any way because it fails to connect with him as a person, rather than a category of persons such as “teen” or “alcoholic”.Time and again in this movie we see the “authority figures” not caring for their charges - moms, dads, probation officers, coaches, - all treating the youngsters as categories of people, but not treating them as people. This is what it feels like to be unloved (a theme which emerges). When Teddy comes back from his sentencing, his mom gives him a perfunctory hug in the kitchen and says some kind of “be good, I love you” phrase, which allows everyone to move on and ignore the real problem. The ultimate betrayal, that of a teacher sleeping with a student, is a similar act of uncaring exploitation. Nobody comes off well here. Girls at parties being promiscuous because they think that’s what they ought to do, parents always on the phone, absent, pretending to care but not caring much, and teachers saying things like “my job is to listen”, but not meaning it .. this is the world these youngsters inhabit. It is a world of posturing and lies, and the kids see through it, even if the adults don’t.I may or may not watch this movie again. It’s difficult at times to stick with it. But I’m glad I saw it, and I’m certain that it’s an important movie. The cinematography and camera work here are outstanding, and the ensemble of characters are well chosen. There is some very subtle acting amidst the stupidity, and a lot of loneliness and despair from kids who have been bathed in “adult” temptations and then left to their own devices. In the end, there is some hopefulness, but it does not come from the adults. Watch this movie.

Seldom do American films contain such potent levels of tenderness and truth. There are, of course, the exceptions, particularly from the 70s, like Midnight Cowboy, or a real favorite for me, Save the Tiger (but I suppose I'm biased toward that decade). Oh, I'm well aware of American films packing the power of this combo of tenderness and truth. They've popped up every decade since D.W. Griffith was cranking a camera. Having said than, tenderness and truth (or, really, the cocktail of them) just seem more prevalent to the cinema of Europe, or Central and South America, or even the little of what I've seen find its way out of the Middle East.Palo Alto opens with this one-two punch in its first two minutes and never stops delivering this blended quality, even as it rises to comic highs and dips to lonely despair, especially the despair of the beautilful and emotionally-starved Emily (Zoe Levin), who is not a main character but who is arguably the most poignant character among the film's ensemble cast.I will spare a summary of the movie, except to say there are three protagonists: Teddy, played astutely by Jack Kilmer in his debut screen performance, April (Emma Roberts) in what so far must be her richest performance, and Fred (the multi-talented Nat Wolff) who manages to deliver some of recent cinema's most brutally honest dialogue with a candor that makes all our seasoned and genuinely great actors appear jaded.Every scene, every set piece is worth relishing, many for entirely different reasons--the film is not a one-note story; quite the opposite: Gia Coppola is exploring a palette of themes and characters that, while various, feel all of a one thanks to the unflagging tone, which is as palpable and confident as any the great P. T. Anderson has delivered. And I do think P. T. Anderson IS great.I have no idea if the young Coppola will be able to repeat such a feat, to "bring out" again. I hope so. I hope this was not the serendiptous fluke of a first-timer. If it is not, she may prove to be the most formidable Coppola since her grandfather's work of the 70s.I will finish this now (because I don't much care for writing these things) by saying that I am an English teacher who shows too many films to my students--a habit justified by the fact that I show only movies they've never seen and often never heard of for the simple result of growing their world views--and EVERY student in the three classes who saw it, LOVED it, so go ahead and multiple my five-star review by about one-hundred and twenty.

(For the most part.)Here are some things to know about this movie:Gia Coppola (Francis Ford Coppola’s granddaughter) directed, her first outing. She also wrote the screenplay based on James Franco’s short story collection also entitled “Palo Alto.” She was 25-years-old at the time.Emma Roberts who plays April and was 22-years-old when this film was released in 2013 is Julia Roberts’ niece. Her father is Eric Roberts (467 credits as an actor).Palo Alto, California is an upscale Silicon Valley community and home to Stanford University.Franco, who plays soccer coach Mr. B, is from Palo Alto. He has a degree in English with a concentration in creative writing from UCLA.There are no helicoptering parents in this movie.Initially I had a lot of trouble watching this because of all the unnecessary cigarette smoking apparently as product placements. It’s sad that some producers can’t get funding without taking big tobacco’s money. However, I’ll give that a pass since some of the smoking had relevance to the story—or “stories.” The viewer can see that Coppola cleverly weaved parts of Franco’s various stories and characters into a mostly coherent whole that plays as a larger story.The other problem for me was the intensity and raw teenage emotional abandonment depicted. This is life lived in the fast lane when you’re still living at home and have an incredible need for experiences, sometimes regardless of the consequences. In this regard “Palo Alto” can be compared to “Nerve” (2016) which also starred the very pretty Emma Roberts. --Dennis Littrell, author of the movie review collection, “Cut to the Chaise Lounge or I Can’t Believe I Swallowed the Remote”

DVD neuf, rien à redire

This movie was okay. It was quite slow in most of the film. But, I was most interested in seeing Jack Kilmer's performance, as I am a HUGH fan of his father Val Kilmer. I thought Jack did a good job and look forward to seeing more of his work. Some of the other cast members like James Franco and Emma Roberts not so good.

A gift for my daughter

Tenía muchas ganas de tener la película ya que me gustó mucho el libro en el que se basa la película Palo Alto de James Franco. La quería en versión original pero no la venden para España y la edición española no existe así que compré la versión francesa que también se puede ver en versión original. Mi sorpresa ha sido que los subtítulos en francés no se pueden quitar y la verdad es que molesta mucho tener que tragarte toda una película con los subtítulos en francés.

Grande fan de Sofia Coppola (Virgin Suicide, The Bling Ring,..) j'étais évidemment curieuse pour ce film, surtout au niveau du directeur photographique. Ce film de Gia Coppola est un plaisir pour les yeux, l'histoire est également touchante.