Shy, sensitive April is the class virgin, torn between an illicit flirtation with her soccer coach Mr. B and an unrequited crush on sweet stoner Teddy. Read more …
Emily, meanwhile, offers sexual favors to every boy to cross her path - including both Teddy and his best friend Fred, a live wire without filters or boundaries. As one high school party bleeds into the next - and April and Teddy struggle to admit their mutual affection - Fred's escalating recklessness starts to spiral into chaos.
It might not feel fresh but Palo Alto feels real, honest and moving. An impressive debut by an exciting new talent.
Kilmer and Robert’s tender, heartfelt performances give real depth to familiar coming-of-age pangs and pinings.
Yet another tale of disaffected, overprivileged teens.
It plays like a series of disparate shorts and the absence of parents rings false. But with a distinct visual sensibility, Gia proves she’s one more Coppola to watch.
Verdict: Troubling teen drama.
Smells like an assured debut.
A generic label here could be More Than Zero.
Palo Alto is the type of teen movie that you could imagine Nicholas Ray (director of Rebel without a Cause) making if he was still around today.
It takes a lot of talent to make small dramas like that look so much like real life when they're on-screen. Coppola is fully in control of her material here, and her actors are doing fine work.
This is a film of moods and sensations, one that understands that the moment adolescence is over it becomes a half-remembered dream and so should be presented as such.
Has a tendency to drift away from each storyline for slightly too long as it shifts back and forth. But the performances are appealingly naturalistic, and Coppola generates several moments of raw truth.
Emma Roberts presents a finely honed portrait of uneasy adolescence as the film’s awkward heroine, but otherwise they’re an unlikable and frequently uninteresting lot.
It’s stylishly directed by Gia Coppola (granddaughter of Francis) but the self-centred characters grate and little happens of consequence.
Glasgow Film Theatre, Glasgow from Friday October 17, 2014, until Thursday October 23, 2014. More info: http://www.glasgowfilm.org/theatre/
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