Palo Alto (2013)

☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Palo Alto (2013) – G. Coppola

It is probably trite for me to call this a cross between “Kids” and “Valley Girl” but somehow that’s what kept coming to mind (particularly after I stumbled across the latter film on cable TV in the US last year and was rather dumbstruck by it).  Of course, recalling Altman’s “The Player”, maybe this really could have been “the pitch” that got the film sold/made.  Or more realistically it was James Franco’s doing, because the script is drawn from some of his short stories (somehow I shudder to think of them), he plays a bit part (as a soccer coach on the make for his high school girl players), and he also served as executive producer.  Director Gia Coppola is, yes, Francis’s grand-daughter but much like her aunt Sofia, she does seem to have inherited some talent (or at least learned from the family traditions).  The film follows a handful of teens as they fill up their bored lives with parties and emotional problems -- so much so that I worried about their self-esteem for most of the movie.  Much of their feelings remain implied rather than shown, however. And the languorousness of things (including the stylish cinematography) is only occasionally punctuated by abrupt reckless behaviour, creating a sort of tension that, instead of leading to some sort of screenwriting arc, ultimately dissipated leaving me, the viewer, to wonder what the point of this all was.