Tuesday, March 4, 2008
A Wild Clear Vision
A binary of art, especially film, is that there is that which not only connects but stays to linger with the recipient, and that which does not. Then there is the added mystery of what connects with some receivers and not others. And lastly, there are the issues of form and content. How something is being told, performed or presented can be a major factor on what sticks to the recipient.
All of this is what is floating with me after viewing Sean Penn's Into the Wild. This is a film that has connected with a lot of viewers, critics included. And I was a bit surprised to the degree I became attached to it. I don't think it has as much to do with the story of the rejection of parents and society and the naive promise that this young man's destiny lies in the wildest of the wild. That content is of interest, and I now look forward to my Christmas gift Krackauer's book. But what impressed me most here is the structure and form of the narrative and vision that Penn applies to the story.
It is not simply flash back and flash forward. I see Penn taking Chris McCandless' life and holding it up like a serpent before slicing it up into chunks of narrative to show measure of this young man and how he ended up as he did. He builds it with a series of prologues, five named chapters each of which is linked thematically with the narrative of his time deep north living in a now famous abandoned bus. There are too many montages with Eddie Vedder music along the way for my taste, and the helicopter and crane shots become a bit conscious of themselves. But it is impressive to witness such a clear even audacious artist's vision, especially in this day of megasameness, a world McCandless was retreating from.
posted by well-executed buffet at 11:01 AM
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