Palo Alto is a
weird film in that it doesn’t really have a cohesive narrative arc. The film is based off a collection of short
stories by James Franco, so the interconnected stories aren’t so much actually
related to one another as they just occupy the same timeframe. Some of the ways the stories overlap feel a bit contrived,
but this film is saved from being a jumbled mess by giving each of its
protagonists appropriate room to breathe, and the film really knows how to
convey the desperate loneliness that stems from adolescence.
The three main characters are April, Teddy, and Fred, high
schoolers in the film’s titular town.
April is a good student and a dedicated soccer player, but she’s not a
very popular girl and finds herself swayed by the advances of her soccer coach
(played by an appropriately suave and sleazy James Franco). Teddy is a decent enough kid who is a
talented artist, but finds himself constantly in trouble through his
association with Fred. Because Fred
seems to be his only friend, Teddy constantly covers for Fred’s antics, which
lead to stints of community service and dangerous consequences. Fred, on the other hand, is out of control,
without adult influences in his life and so afraid of his sexuality being
undermined that he acts out in insane and self-destructive ways.
All three are victims of their development in a society that
doesn’t recognize the problems they go through.
April is a victim of her soccer coach’s advances, and when he turns out
to be nothing more than a predator, April is alone in her knowledge of his
violation of her. Teddy only tags along
when Fred gets out of control, and when Fred leaves him holding the blame,
he’ll take it in order to protect his only friend. And Fred, perhaps the most proactive in
causing trouble, is just disturbed, partially due to having no adult role models, and
partially because the word “gay” is so damn scary to him. These kids are outcasts, just as we all feel
when we’re in high school, and they deal with the sorts of issues that real
high schoolers go through. It’s
heartbreaking to watch each of them go through their struggles without any real
solutions to their problems ever presenting themselves. But that’s how life goes, and that’s what the
film is trying to share with us.
Now, the downside to this format is that the film doesn’t
really hold together as much more than a series of vignettes. Fred’s character isn’t really explored until
the last third of the film, and before then his purpose is mostly to just show
up and mess up Teddy’s life. Only in
retrospect does he become interesting.
And April’s story is rather clumsily tied into Teddy’s when he confesses
his love for her in the latter half, even though the two characters had until
then only shared one scene together.
It’s bizarre and lazy, and I probably would have preferred a less linear
approach to storytelling, treating each character separately and watching their
stories interconnect in small ways as the main focus stays on one character at
a time.
As is, though, Palo
Alto is a satisfying experience and it does a fine job of giving a
realistic portrayal of the high school experience. These kids are archetypes of the people we
all knew growing up, the people we probably should have treated better but
didn’t have the empathy to comprehend their pain yet. Hell, we can all probably find a little
something of ourselves in these kids. I
know I did.
Know any other films that convey a true-to-life adolescent
experience? Let me know in the comments
below.
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