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Despite stellar performances from much of the supporting cast, including Vince Vaughn, Hal Holbrook, Marcia Gay Harden and some of the others, a few things turned me off. First of all, I never got a satisfying sense of Christopher’s motivation. There had to be more to it than that his parents (and society) were hypocrites. Whatever else made him tick was elusive in this film. His “profound” Jim Morrison-esque poetry was supposed to fill in the blanks, but it was merely bad in that youthful (read: naive) sort of way. Eddie Vedder’s warbling didn’t help either, and I was insulted that scenes were sung to me as if I couldn’t see for myself what has happening – Into the Wild: The Musical. Lastly, I didn’t buy the ending. I don’t want to dispense with a spoiler but the smile was too tacky – kind of like a hallmark moment. I have been a big fan of Penn as a director (and of Jim Morrison’s poetry and Pearl Jam), but this one missed the mark for me by a long shot. I think Penn wanted to portray Christopher’s actions as admirable and daring rather than selfish and stupid or as the ultimate cop-out. Instead his protagonist comes off like a spoiled brat, a wounded animal, and an “innocent” who ended up doing something a little admirable but a lot stupid – and who died for it. Some say, “If you can’t find something to live for, you best find something to die for.” But the way the film tells it, Christopher’s actions don’t warrant glorification.

Diangkat dari kisah nyata tentang perjalanan hidup Christopher McCandless setelah menyelesaikan kuliahnya di Emory University ke alam bebas Amerika karena merasa bosan dengan rutinitas hidup manusia modern di sekitarnya. Film yang mempunyai durasi sedikit panjang namun entah kenapa mempunyai sesuatu yang tidak akan membuat penontonnya lelah menonton. Dan berisi satu pesan tentang hidup mengenai Happiness is real when shared… Great movie!

Rate: 4.5 / 5

seriously, how juvenile is this movie? its suuuuuch a bastardised version of the novel. travelling is full of ups and downs its not all whoohoo i’m a greasy mongaloid who’s just a barrel of joyous sunshine. he misses his family. he misses his friends. THROUGH OUT THE BOOK. in fact, i think the only hardship you actually see him face in this movie is at the end — when he fucking dies! gah. “oh no i ate a death root now i miss family .. wahhhhh”. i really can’t bring enough attention to how gluttonously this movie glorifies emile’s “freedom”. his mixed bag of good times and bad were such a quintessential element of the book that to just leave it out is so.. so typical hollywood. so high contrast, black and white with absolutely no dimension.

okay okay so not only that—(not only that!)— some of the scenes, were so painfully cheesy i wanted to hang my head in shame. i couldn’t even look at the screen while he was talking to the camera and eating that god damn apple. yes, you’re starving, we get it. its your own god damn fault that you look like an ethiopian. just eat the apple. enjoy it. stop talking about it. kthnxbai.

really, sean penn? fuck you. this film is a joke. and of course, everyone thinks its the shit because its a little out there for subject matter. i’d take cox’s highway over this movie any day. maybe that says a lot about my personality.

To accept that you live fake life, with fake relations, with materialistic parents and that you won’t put up with that anymore takes guts. Not so much for realizing than but for taking matters into your own hand and to vanish. He went. He didn’t had a direction but his finish was crystal clear. His finish wasn’t in the map but it meant more to him than all Vatikans, Mekas and so on to all the sheep in the world. Thank god he could walk around with that size of his balls, but he did. He took off his mask and became Supertramp. He met not only new world, but new parents, new relations, new values. Fuck. Even when I write and remember back the movie it brings out such a feelings that it’s hard to describe. After watching (even in the middle of it) the film, it just gets you to pack, to say f**k off and vanish. Like he did. But he did it in style. Without cheesy letters, without saying goodbye (which, i think even if he would say to his parent, they wouldn’t notice it because of their fiction of life).
Movie takes you in, movie test you, movie questions but doesn’t answer. For answers there are we. Viewers. Brilliant! Perfect. In style. Into the wild!

Someone commented to me that this film lost some points for having a predictable end. But the fact is, pretty much anyone who chooses to watch this film goes in with a pretty good idea that this true story didn’t end well. After all, the book was written by someone other than the subject in question.

Yet bracing myself for the inevitable only enhanced the poignancy of this tale. All the people “Alex” touches and the sorrow he leaves behind is heart-breaking foolishness, made all the more painful when “Alex” finally reaches this revelation when he can do nothing about it. Emile Hirsch channels a bit of DiCaprio in his intense portrayal of someone so wise and yet so blind. His questionable choices do not elicit contempt or scorn — one can only watch him wistfully and compassionately, as a parent watches a child stumble and fall as he takes his first steps. The scenes with Catherine Keener and Hal Holbrook crystallize moments of truth so pointedly that it leaves an ache in the heart.

Sean Penn’s direction is pitch-perfect. It’s never over-sentimental, nor does it romanticize the journey. The scenes are simple and lucid. This is an unforgettable film.

Chris McCandless abandona a chance de ir para Harvard e uma vida confortável com os pais para abraçar a chance de uma vida plena nas estradas e naturezas da América. Sua meta é alcançar o Alasca, espaço mítico na mente do jovem, impregnada pelas aventuras naturalísticas de Jack London e a prosa existencial de Kerouac e Thoreau. Um local onde Chris, auto-rebatizado Alexander Supertramp, acredita poder se ver livre da contaminação humana. Você não precisa de relacionamentos humanos para ser feliz, reflete a princípio. Deus colocou felicidade em tudo ao nosso redor.

Speed Racer desde criança foi completamente fascinado por carros e corrida. Também, não poderia ser diferente, sendo filho de um engenheiro automobilístico e irmão de um jovem e talentoso piloto. Sua passagem para a vida adulta é marcada pela morte do irmão, após este abandonar subitamente o lar ao se desentender com o pai. Tendo se tornado também um talentoso piloto, Speed hesita entre aceitar uma proposta de patrocínio de um grande conglomerado ou continuar seguindo carreira dentro dos modestos parâmetros estabelecidos por sua família.

Em que pese as pretensões artísticas de NA NATUREZA SELVAGEM e o delírio tecnológico de SPEED RACER, em última instância são ambos sobre o peso da família na formação moral do adolescente. No caso do primeiro, dirigido e escrito por Sean Penn a partir de uma história real, Chris abandona lar e a civilização por desacreditar na possibilidade de redenção do âmbito familiar, tomando como base o relacionamento tumultuado de seus pais (interpretados por William Hurt e Márcia Gay Harden). Sua história é narrada por sua irmã caçula, apesar desta não ter presenciado nenhuma dos eventos que o filme mostra. Mas é uma testemunha confiável dos eventos que levaram à deserção de Chris, e é através de seu depoimento que entendemos as razões que levam um jovem inteligente e bem-educado, de carreira promissora a abandonar tudo para cair na estrada sem lenço nem documento. Se por um lado é uma tentativa óbvia de Sean Penn de justificar psicologicamente as atitudes de Chris, por outro explicita o ponto central da obra. Chris abandona sua família biológica para encontrar outra na estrada, formada pelas várias pessoas que cruzaram seu caminho em direção ao Alasca. A ponto de uma delas ser até propor adotá-lo oficialmente. Mas a desilusão de Chris com o núcleo familiar é forte demais, algo que só irá rever ao final de sua jornada. É quando tem a bonita conclusão de que a felicidade só é real se compartilhada.

Por outro lado, SPEED RACER, adaptado da famosa série de animação japonesa, apresenta o ideal da família, aquela que unida enfrenta todos os desafios. Mesmo quando é abandonada pelo irmão mais velho, é por um motivo altruísta. Por ela, o herói enfrenta a tentação promovida pelo dinheiro fácil e pela falta de ética. E é em cima da família que Andy e Larry Wachowski constroem seu centro emocional. E o fazem com inesperada competência, já que de outra forma, SPEED RACER seria apenas um espetáculo visual (nem tão impressionante assim) e uma crítica descerebrada ao capitalismo selvagem. Mas é difícil não se emocionar quando o grande John Goodman, que faz o patriarca da família Racer, confessa a Speed que perdeu seu irmão mais velho não quando este morreu, e sim quando deixou este sair de casa. Os Wachowski, eles mesmos irmãos, compreendem esta dinâmica, e só essa cena vale mais emocionalmente que toda a trilogia MATRIX reunida. E curiosamente, dialoga diretamente com outra em NA NATUREZA SELVAGEM, aquele momento em que William Hurt, desesperado após meses de desaparecimento de seu filho, sai de casa e desaba no meio da rua.

O que conecta personagens de origens tão distintas e até mesmo antagônicas é a mesma inocência e honestidade de princípios. São personagens incorruptíveis, que lutam cada qual a seu modo contra a hipocrisia e a falsidade ideológica resultantes do capitalismo selvagem. Ambos têm também as mesmas feições, a do talentoso Emile Hirsch, que oferece em ambos os papéis a mesma serenidade e convicção. Ainda é cedo para chamá-lo de astro, mas a verdade é que Hirch está rumando em direção ao estrelato com a integridade e a velocidade de seus personagens na tela.

This was my second viewing because the first time around it didn’t work for me but a friend told me you have to watch it again and I’m glad I did.

The first time it just felt dry and emotionless.(With exception to the scenes including Hal Holbrook which were even more heart renching the second time.) But this time I concentrated more on the character and it paid off.

I will still admit though, the first say hour and a half weren’t too great but the last hour was packing emotion I couldn’t move. Everything from going back to see Katherine Keeners character and on was just great.

This movie is great and I cried more than once. That ending was horrendous to watch and I am still blown away by it.

I don’t know what is wrong with the academy not even touching this one for consideration but it is not the first time. I guess they have something against people giving their lives to a character and altering themselves. (cough christian bale cough machinist)

The movie is amazing, with great performances and incredibly shot. Congratulations Sean Penn.

Into the Wild

Sean Penn’s new film is profound on many levels.

Historically being based in 1991 after the fall of communism and the end of history, no coincidence.

Pre SSRIs and all the mental health madness. In this day and age someone like him would be convinced that they were nuts and drug themselves up. Back then these drugs did not exist.

Plays on the tradition of Thorueu, interesting to note that the Wild was not hostile to him back then though we have gotten so faraway from nature that it attacks and kiils us. In all of T’s writing there is not an element of a fear of survival. American man at that time had sufficient contact with nature in order to surivive. Penn’s character is saved by a bus, a piece of modernity in the jungle.

The idea of solitude in nature is a strange one. Striking that Penn’s character did not want to be around people. Can’t take the American out of the boy, individualism, alienation, go at it alone mentality.

The need to cut himself off from his family. It was what he
questioned least. It gave him the greatest sense of freedom. The family, especially post 50s American family has been the greatest source of destruction on children, with what they feed, the schools they send you to, the stuff they buy you, the TV they make you watch. you can’t be free unless you have no feelings for them. That radicalism is needed nowadays, that no mercy, non sentimental way of living.

He is very clearly not a hippie in the limited sense of that word. He does not want free love, does not want drugs, does not even want sex. He doesn’t care about any of those things. He is beyond that, not interested, what he wants is a divine connection with the wild. Why? What does it give him?

The modern world with all its trappings is absurd and frustrating, especially for a 22 year old searching for the truth. That was where I was for a time. And I am still on that journey in many ways.

Sean Penn’s critically acclaimed adaptation of Jon Krakauer’s non-fiction book is a good film that could have been a great one. Christopher McCandless (Emile Hirsch completely disappears in the role) chucks it all after graduating from Emory, cuts up his ID, gives his $24,000 college fund to Oxfam, abandons his family (William Hurt and Marcia Gay Harden overdo it, and sister Jena Malone is mostly in unnecessary voiceover) and heads to Alaska to live off the land. He changes his name to Alexander Supertramp, meets various strangers (similar to Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda in Easy Rider) and camps out in an abandoned bus in the Alaskan wilderness, alone. He dies of starvation. Krakauer’s book is breathtaking, touching, tragic. The root problem of Penn’s film is that where Krakauer was unflinching and poetic, Penn romanticizes and hammers you over the head. He paints McCandless as a heroic figure who bravely abandoned our materialistic society and set out to discover himself in the wilderness, when actually he was a misguided soul whose perceived invincibility had no chance against the harsh world he thought would show him “truth”. Though he finally learns that his quest has been folly, it’s too late. As he does with all of his films, Penn injects far too many empty “directorial” touches in every scene, with swirling camerawork, jarring editing and hokey imagery. Imagine the great film Werner Herzog would have made with this! The best scenes are the quiet ones where Hirsch is interacting with others, especially an old man (Hal Holbrook) who has given up on life. But it’s when he is alone in the wilderness that Penn feels the need to jazz things up with flashy style and annoying Eddie Vedder songs. Beautifully shot by Eric Gautier amid stunning locations, and Hirsch is incredible, but had the film been pared down to its essentials (just as the real McCandless did with his life) this could have been a much more powerful film.

Sean Penn’s new movie Into the Wild arrives on the wave of a well-regarded novel about a college graduate who decides that the anger and violence in civilized society is too much to handle and commences a journey through nature in order to truly live life as it was meant to be. This film is a wonderful glimpse into the life of a kid, wise beyond his years, and the bonds that he creates with people along the way. A victim of excess in wealth and a shortage of love, Christopher McCandless hid inside his mind behind knowledge and philosophy, building up his intellectual strength, as well as the physical, in order to complete his trek, ultimately leading him to Alaska. Penn never falls into the trap of showing too much heartbreak on the side of McCandless’s parents, because he doesn’t want the audience to second-guess the decision he made. There is no debate to be had here, our protagonist has no alternative but to get out and live off the land. Only being completely self-sufficient can he grasp a meaning for his life and one day perhaps go back with that knowledge fully learned.

Emile Hirsch is absolutely brilliant with his good-natured attitude and affable charm. His character believes that human contact is not necessary for happiness and never seeks out relationships. However, his character is so likeable that they find him and latch on, not to change his mind, but to experience his level of being and hopefully learn something from him and help enlarge his vocabulary on life. The people he meets help him to fully grasp the decision of life in the wild and be able to survive it. Never coming off condescendingly to those he crosses paths with, Hirsch always holds a smile on his face. One scene, where he meets up with a couple of people from Europe, proves how contagious a clear outlook on life without the troubles of societal restraints can be. These three kids have a blast, if only for a few minutes—with Hirsch being chased by the police for rafting with no license—and it makes one wonder if maybe we all should take a journey into nature and feel the freedom and full warmth of heart that a lack of stress to succeed in the business world can give.

All the supporting players are magnificent at helping show the side to McCandless that Penn needs on display to succeed. Hal Holbrook, Brian Dierker, and Catherine Keener are by far the best of these side characters with Vince Vaughn and Kristen Stewart adding some charm too. Dierker, Keener, and Stewart play hippie, flower-child type roles and allow Hirsch to show off how modest and unselfish he is. This is the family he deserved to have from birth and he is the son they wished their lives had earned them. At their best, all four together give some of the most emotionally charged moments in the film. Holbrook, on-the-other-hand, helps give insight into the philosophy that Hirsch needs to live with in order to survive the loneliness, looking him in the face, to come in Alaska. It is truly fascinating to see how every person adds something to his overall experience and to the tools he needs.

Hirsch deserves a lot of credit because he truly outshines the film itself with his dedication and sacrifice to the role. The length of time needed to allow him the ability to lose the weight necessary for a main plot point in the movie is crazy. If the time wasn’t that long and Hirsch did it all rapidly, I’m even more impressed. With all that, there are many instances free of dialogue that he needs to carry with body language and actions alone. True, much of this is enhanced by a wonderful soundtrack from Eddie Vedder, but evenso it is a remarkable performance. Kudos to Sean Penn for a gorgeous filming job also. He captures the countryside with grace, while infusing many moments of visual style by slow-motioning glimpses, knowing when to show the family left behind, utilizing informative and essential voice-over, and even breaking the fourth wall. When Hirsch first looks into the camera, at the audience, it does not seem unnatural in the slightest, but instead an amazing link for the viewers to take a look into his soul like those that crossed his path have. McCandless is so pure that it almost feels like glimpsing the calm protectiveness of God.