Film No. 52 (2014) August 2nd. 11:00 AM LUNA Leederville.
Gia Coppola is the grand daughter of Francis Ford and at the tender age of 26 I commend her on this smartly directed film, Palo Alto. She is intuitive as only a director could be who has recently, herself, experienced life as a teenager, a Gen Y teenager. The Gen Y teenagers depicted in Palo Alto, excepting April (Emma Roberts), are not very likeable and our journey with them is more frustrating than revealing.
James Franco who plays April's sleazy soccer coach is also the author of the Palo Alto short stories which form the basis for the characters and scenes in this film. A film about the uncertainty of youth. Coppola wrote the screenplay with a good deal of help from Franco. I've not read the stories but I imagine them to be popular tales amongst adolescents.
Perhaps it is because the film's narrative is derived from short stories that there was a lack of reward for this viewer. Sure the film is a series of observations about five key characters April, Teddy, Freddy, Chrissy and Shauna but I craved for something to happen to give those observations a common storyline.
Perhaps if I'd read the short stories and they had impacted on me, then my selfish requirements of Palo Alto would be non existent. I saw this film with no preconceptions so maybe that was my mistake. The film is well made and brilliantly acted by the young cast. I'm keen to discuss it with young film buffs who are familiar with the short stories; perhaps then I will get a better appreciation of what I missed. 7GUMS
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