Palo Alto (2013 film)

2013 American film

Palo Alto

Theatrical release poster

Directed by| Gia Coppola
Written by| Gia Coppola
Based on| Palo Alto: Stories
by James Franco
Produced by|

* Sebastian Pardo
* Adriana Rotaru
* Miles Levy
* Vince Jolivette

Starring|

* James Franco
* Emma Roberts
* Jack Kilmer
* Nat Wolff
* Zoe Levin
* Chris Messina
* Keegan Allen
* Val Kilmer

Cinematography| Autumn Cheyenne Durald
Edited by| Leo Scott
Music by|

* Devonté Hynes
* Robert Schwartzman

Production
companies

Rabbit Bandini Productions
American Zoetrope[1]

Distributed by| Tribeca Film

Release dates

* August 29, 2013 (2013-08-29) (Telluride)
* May 9, 2014 (2014-05-09) (United States)

Running time

| 100 minutes
Country| United States
Language| English
Budget| $1 million
Box office| $1.2 million[2]

Palo Alto is a 2013 American drama film written and directed by Gia Coppola, based on James Franco's 2010 short story collection of the same name. The film stars Franco alongside Emma Roberts, Jack Kilmer, Nat Wolff and Zoe Levin.

## Plot[edit]

Teddy and his best friend, Fred, are teenage stoners. At soccer practice April's friends laugh about their coach Mr. B's crush on April. He asks her to babysit his son Michael, and he then offers her the striker position. Fred and Teddy walk to their car talking about what they would do if they got into a drunk driving crash. Teddy says he would drive away even if it was his crush, April.

At a party, Teddy invites April to the graveyard with him and Fred. They hold hands as they run there. She carves a heart into the tree and they bond. Heading back to the party, they drink alcohol with everyone. Teddy goes outside to throw up when Emily takes him to the bathroom to get mouthwash. April sees them head upstairs and becomes jealous.

April starts talking to Ivan, who flirts with her. Teddy and Emily kiss and she performs oral sex on him. Going outside, he becomes upset when he sees April kissing Ivan. He and Fred leave the party, getting into a car crash. Teddy quickly drives away, blaming Fred as he spoke about it earlier. A police officer arrives at Teddy's house and arrests him for driving under the influence. Instead of serving any jail time, Teddy is placed on probation.

April sits by the pool with her friends Chrissy and Shauna. Chrissy tells them that Emily performed fellatio on Teddy, upsetting April. Teddy is ordered to perform community service at a children's library as part of his probation. Emily and her friend sit watching Fred play basketball. He later goes to Emily's, and they have sex.

While Teddy is doing his community service, Fred visits him and draws a penis in a children's book; Teddy later gets in trouble for both this and carving April's name into a bench. Then Fred's father hits on him at Fred's house.

April goes to Mr. B's for help on her history paper. He kisses her and confesses his feelings. Later that night, Teddy and Fred cut down the tree April carved a heart in with a chainsaw. The next day, Fred goes to Emily's. He admits that at a friend's house, he got her naked in the bed so everyone could rape her. Afterwards, they share a kiss which ends with Emily fellating him.

April goes to Mr. B's again after he ignored her at soccer practice. She says she does not want to see him anymore, but he claims that he loves her and wants to be with her.

In class, April gets called back for her history paper as her stepfather wrote it. In Teddy's art class, the teacher observes Fred's art and tells him how he went down the "tunnel of death" and realized he is "not Bob" as he drove down the highway.

At a soccer game, April messes up, missing many chances to score. Mr. B offers to drive her home and takes her back to his house. They sit on the couch and begin kissing, and then April loses her virginity to him. The next day, when she is babysitting, Michael tells her he has another babysitter, her teammate Raquel, which upsets her. She tells Mr. B that she does not want to go to his house anymore.

At a party, April goes to sit with Teddy. He says he loves her, confusing her as they do not talk often. Later on, at Skull's to buy weed, Fred tells Skull that Teddy mentioned wanting to cut Skull's heart out, although it was he who suggested it after he brought a knife.

Fred then asks Skull if he had a choice, would he rather be gay or a girl, to which Skull and Teddy make fun of Fred and call him a "faggot". Fred questions why they think it is wrong to be with a man and then explains that being inside a girl means she is the one in control and not the other way around. He then falls to the floor and starts crying. He was holding a large chef's' knife, implications may include an intent to commit murder or suicide. The scene cuts to the car, and Fred wants to drive down a one-way road, but Teddy demands to exit. Fred drives down the one-way by himself while repeatedly shouting, "I'm not Bob." A massive, bloody wound in his head implies he intentionally stabbed himself and wants to commit suicide. Meanwhile, April texts Teddy, making them smile as Teddy walks alone. The scene cuts to black and credits begin rolling.

## Cast[edit]

* Emma Roberts as April
* James Franco as Mr. B
* Jack Kilmer as Teddy
* Nat Wolff as Fred
* Zoe Levin as Emily
* Val Kilmer as Stewart
* Keegan Allen as Archie "Skull"
* Margaret Qualley as Raquel
* Chris Messina as Mitch
* Claudia Levy as Shauna
* Olivia Crocicchia as Chrissy
* Micah Nelson as Michael
* Sandra Seacat as Tanya

## Production[edit]

Filming took place throughout November and December 2012 in Southern California, and at the homes of Val Kilmer and Gia Coppola's mother.[3]

## Release[edit]

Palo Alto premiered at the Telluride Film Festival in August 2013[4] and at the Venice Film Festival in September 2013.[5] The film was shown at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 24, 2014,[6] and at the San Francisco International Film Festival on May 3, 2014.[7] Palo Alto was released in a limited release on May 9, 2014.[8] The film was later released on video on demand on July 29, 2014.[9]

## Reception[edit]

The film received generally positive reviews; based on 125 reviews, the film carries a 68% rating on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes with an average rating of 6.2/10 where the consensus states: "A promising debut for director Gia Coppola, Palo Alto compensates for its drifting plot with solid performances and beautiful cinematography."[10] On Metacritic, the film has a rating of 69 out of 100, based on 34 reviews, signifying "generally favorable reviews".[11]

Ian Freer of Empire gave the film 4 stars out of 5, calling it a "terrific, truthful, portrait of teenage lives, delivered with a naturalness and compassion of which seasoned directors can only dream." He praised the performances, particularly Emma Roberts', who he said "is the standout, heartbreaking as she suggests longings and anxieties without over-hyping it. Much like the film itself."[12] Tom Shone of The Guardian also acclaimed Roberts as the "standout", giving the film 3 stars out of 5. He also lauded Gia Coppola's "eye for cool composition", for posing Roberts against "repetitive, bland, pastel-colored surfaces" until her "pale, luminous beauty pops." However, he felt that away from Roberts, "the film drifts and drags, and some of the image-making is rote."[13]

## Soundtrack[edit]

Further information: Palo Alto (soundtrack)

The film's soundtrack was released June 3, 2014 through Domino Recording Company.[14]

1. "Palo Alto" by Devonté Hynes
2. "Ode to Viceroy" by Mac DeMarco
3. "Fútbol Americano" by Robert Schwartzman
4. "Champagne Coast" by Blood Orange
5. "5FT7" by Tonstartssbandht
6. "Is This Sound Okay?" by Coconut Records
7. "Rock Star" (movie version) by Nat & Alex Wolff
8. "Senza Mamma" by Francesco Pennino
9. "Graveyard" by Robert Schwartzman
10. "So Bad" by Robert Schwartzman
11. "April's Daydream" by Devonté Hynes
12. "It's You" by Robert Schwartzman
13. "T.M." by Jack Kilmer
14. "You're Not Good Enough" by Blood Orange

## References[edit]

1. ^ "American Zoetrope Filmography". zoetrope.com. Retrieved April 8, 2019.
2. ^ "Palo Alto". The Numbers.
3. ^ http://www.salon.com/2014/05/01/gia_coppola_on_james_franco_family_ties_and_palo_alto Salon.com
4. ^ "40th Anniversary Program Line-up, (August 2013)". Archived from the original on June 29, 2015. Retrieved April 2, 2014.
5. ^ "Huffington Post - Gia Coppola 'Palo Alto,' From James Franco's Book, Debuts At Venice, (September 2 2013)". HuffPost. Archived from the original on April 7, 2014.
6. ^ "Tribeca Film Snags 'Palo Alto,' Gia Coppola's Film Based on James Franco Stories". article.wn.com.
7. ^ "James Franco, 'Palo Alto' grab key role at SF Film Festival". April 2014.
8. ^ Palo Alto - In Theaters; Tribeca Films; May 20, 2014
9. ^ "Palo Alto on iTunes". iTunes. May 9, 2014.
10. ^ "Palo Alto". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved May 21, 2014.
11. ^ "Palo Alto Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved May 21, 2014.
12. ^ Ian Freer (November 2014). "Palo Alto". Empire (305). Bauer Media: 64. Retrieved March 4, 2015.
13. ^ Tom Shone (May 8, 2014). "Palo Alto: 'Away from Emma Roberts, the film drifts' – first look review". The Guardian. Retrieved November 10, 2014.
14. ^ "Palo Alto soundtrack at Amazon". Amazon.

## External links[edit]

* Palo Alto at IMDb
* Palo Alto at Box Office Mojo
* Palo Alto at Rotten Tomatoes
* Palo Alto at Metacritic