Park is indeed a memorably bad film. The acting is inexplicably over the top, the story is tortuous and hard to work out, and the point seems to be that a girl was sexually abused, although there are so many weird abstract movie-making things going on that you can't really tell. There's a lot of people looking out of windows with melancholy expressions, and a creepy park-keeper (Des Nealon, a wonderful stage actor) getting all hot and heavy about a cute teenage girl, who herself spends much of the film looking glum and/or resigned to the fact that she's in a turkey.
But what's strangest of all about it is that the director, John Carney, went on to make 'Once', the award-winning, effortlessly assured sort-of-love story about the Irish busker and the Czech street vendor. It's a lesson to us all - no matter how bad a movie you make early on, it doesn't mean you won't go on to make a gem later.
But what's strangest of all about it is that the director, John Carney, went on to make 'Once', the award-winning, effortlessly assured sort-of-love story about the Irish busker and the Czech street vendor. It's a lesson to us all - no matter how bad a movie you make early on, it doesn't mean you won't go on to make a gem later.