Vers l'inconnu

I've never posted a comment regarding a movie but feel compelled to after attending a screening of Into The Wild at the Toronto Film Festival last night. I won't speak to story here as it's covered in the other comments.

This is a movie of real beauty. It made me cry. I felt moved in a way that happens very rarely. It was an inspiration.

The feelings it evoked were all based on the power of the acting and the writing. The words were real and human. The relationships seemed real and human. This may not seem like a great feat - but I consider it a true rarity. It didn't feel calculated and artificial, like so many movies (read: Crash - but I'm not here to bash that...). It was very organic, natural and (I can't say it enough) just beautiful. Cripes, it's making me sound like a hippie, for heaven's sake. This for me was Penn's best work since Indian Runner.

What it reminded me of...

• Terence Malik - Herzog? - in a strange way Cassavettes? - Hal Ashby (more Coming Home than Harold & Maude...) - even a bit of Ken Loach

• Ruby in Paradise - Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore - Five Easy Pieces - Easy Rider

... but when I list those it's not because of plot similarities (though there are some) or style (although I think you can definitely see the influence of some great films) - it's again because of the heart of it. I heard a few people at the screening comment that the film was "too long" but I don't agree. I think exploring a journey of this magnitude required visiting all of the people he touched and taking the time to see the land.

Hal Holbrook was just perfect, as was the cast as a whole, and I think Emile Hirsch is really going places - he was fantastic and he owned the role. Eddie Vedder's music worked perfectly as well - not distracting or quirky - just a part of the whole.

The film received a standing ovation and quite a few tears were shed. Magic.

For a movie to be even better than a good book is no small feat. Yet, that's how I felt after watching this film. It really impressed me. One of the reasons is the fantastic cinematography. Man, this is a beautifully filmed and, at 142 minutes, there are a lot of great scenes to admire.

Sean Penn directed and Eddie Gautier was the Director Of Photography. I can't stand Penn as a person but fair-is-fair and I think he's great as a director, having seen his work in "The Pledge" and "The Crossing Guard." The main actor, Emile Hirsch, who plays "Chris McCandless" (a.k.a. "Alexander Supertramp" reminded me of Leonardo DiCaprio with his looks, build and voice inflection. He is very credible as the young guy who wants nothing to do with materialistic society and dreams of living in the wilds of Alaska. The problem was that he was unprepared and underestimated what he was up against.

Two people who fascinated me the most in here were two extremes, age-wise - Hal Holbrook and Kristen Stewart. It was really great to see the veteran Holbrook ("Ron France") again. He was about 82 when he made this film and hadn't acted in a film in a few years. He was terrific, too. He had some of the most memorable scenes in the story. Meanwhile, teenager Stewart was captivating as "Tracy Tatro," who had a crush on "Alex." This young woman is on her way to stardom.

Brian Dierker and Catherine Keener also were really, really interesting as the aging hippie couple, "Rainey" and "Jan." I kept thinking, I know this guy when listening to Dierker's voice, finally guessing it was Jeff Bridges underneath all the beard....but it Dierker, a guy who rarely acts in films.

Knowing the book, the only part of the film that caught be off-guard was the young Swedish couple. I don't remember them in the book but I'll never forget this in this film!! One could debate the pros and cons of Chris McCandless for hours, so no sense going into that here. I thought the film was pretty kind to him. You read more in the book about how he hurt a lot of people with his silence. Either way, it's a a fascinating story and a beautiful film.

The sensitivity with which Krakauer captured the essence of McCandless and his adventure is extended aptly to the movie format by Sean Penn. Even if one might not be able to appreciate the purpose for Alex's journey, I don't think anyone would be able to deny that Into the Wild is a sensitive and poignant cinematic experience. There are scenes in this movie that one will never be able to forget, particularly the ending sequence. This movie will easily pull its audience into a philosophical debate for the truth about who was right and wrong isn't easy to distinguish. Sean Penn certainly doesn't try to answer those questions, questions that McCandless' life left for his family and the rest of us. Penn does well to tread a delicate objective but not indifferent line. Certainly the best movie of this year and one of the best ever made. The story, the story itself is great.

There is a certain irony to the story from "Into the Wild", as Hollywood, the land of excess, does a film about a man who got rid of all his possessions in order to live simply off the land. It would be like me (at 250 pounds) writing a diet book! Now I am not attacking Sean Penn or the film or any of the ones who made the film...but in general I just cannot associate Hollywood with the life of Christopher McCandless!

The story begins with Chris graduating from Emory University, a prestigious school in Georgia. Now you'd think he would be on the fast track to financial success...but instead he gives away nearly everything he has and heads into the wilderness to live a bit like a nomad. It seems Chris was tired of a life of acquiring things and wanted to live simply...and mostly alone. He also seemed to be running away from himself....or at least who he and his family were. Ultimately his life would take him from the American Southwest all the way to the wilds of Alaska. This tale is based on a true story, as told by Chris' sister in the film.

I think this is a movie where I enjoyed the style more than the story itself. I liked the simple style, the simple music and the mostly lesser-named stars in the picture. I also respect how much Emile Hirsch put himself out for the role...his weight loss throughout the movie was dramatic. As a trained therapist, however, I couldn't help but think the Chris would have benefited a lot from therapy before taking such a huge leap in his life. He was clearly, in an odd way, suicidal and I was concerned how the film seemed to romanticize this. Overall, an interesting but often unpleasant and overlong movie...worth seeing once but not a film I'd rush to recommend.

Who Is Chris McCandless? A true supertramp? An obsessive, emotionally damaged egomaniac? Suicidal thrill-seeker? A Kerouac-like drifter addicted to the search for an ever-evasive truth? A high-functioning schizophrenic? The 21st century youth culture reincarnation of John Gault? Or just a kid going through a difficult time and looking for some distance to sort it all out?

Sean Penn's pop-philosophical examination of this young man's voyage across America, to Alaska, and to the depths of his young soul will give you an interpretation at least. While it is not clear exactly whose interpretation we are seeing, it is very clear that Penn respects his subject and gave this film about as much thought and power as he could inject it with. And the film did remind me of something very true about the self-righteous naiveté of youth.

I am not concerned at all with the accuracy of the film, and, while it is tempting to compare this film to Werner Herzog's excellent but less fictionalized "Grizzly Man", the subjects are really too widely disparate; Herzog and Penn's perspective on humanity is too different to produce a meaningful comparison. The targets of this comparison, too big and too easy. But I will make one comment about the two films - Penn's film is much more or a tribute to its protagonist than Herzog's.

I found Into the Wild to be a gripping, thoughtful film. The script was good, but sometimes a bit pretentious - occasionally crossing the line between character development and character worship. Penn's direction and cinematography are masterful. The acting - every member of the cast included - is absolutely excellent.

Recommended - but not for light cheerful entertainment.