Into The Wild

[Kal]

Anyone have the Eddie Vedder track 'Guaranteed'? I don't want to buy the whole ablum on iTunes.

You should. It's worth it.

I have the song but not sure how I can send it to you?

[Sleepless]

I've PM you my email if you're able to do that 

[Redlum]

Into The Wild: The False Being Within

Interesting article that supposes that Chris McCandless was schizophrenic.

I re-watched this last-night and finally was able to find something uplifitng. Regardles of the  article, the re-watch has raised my opinion of this film significantly.

[pete]

link don't work.

[Kal]

link don't work.

does for me

[Gamblour.]

Interesting idea, but the reason doctors don't go on record about mental illness like this is not because it's a taboo (they work in the fucking profession, for fuck's sake) but because it's unprofessional to speculate based on a second-hand account. Posthumous theoretical diagnoses are out there, like the great Lincoln's Melancholy, but they're rooted in things like research and not conjecture or some sort of annoyance with liberal Hollywood.

[Pas]

Interesting idea, but the reason doctors don't go on record about mental illness like this is not because it's a taboo (they work in the fucking profession, for fuck's sake) but because it's unprofessional to speculate based on a second-hand account.

Good point. I'd like to know more about the statistics concerning other people losing their life in Alaska because of Jack London-esque adventures that were mentioned in the articles it's really interesting

[Kal]

This is such a great film. For some reason I found myself in the IMDb page and reading people comments. I would hunt down every person on the IMDb message boards and blow their fucking heads off.

[polanski's illegitimate baby]

I didn't think this movie had particularly a lot to do with going to die in Alaska because you're a dumbass kid who doesn't know that homo sapiens are inescapably social creatures... Its obviously a romantic quest for freedom from logic and the establishment in general-- the repercussions it carries. It has to do with uncompromising identity and impulsive desires-- all that beatnik quasi-buddhist shit... Only instead of finding thyself, the dude ended up dying from a berry due to poor knowledge of botany. Granted many of us, finding ourselves in a similar predicament, would perish. The point is that this character gives the "will to live" the unconditional priority over rationalism. Think how say, Bob Marley died because he chose not to believe in cancer or gave his own theories more emphasis. Think of a popular line, "Dad let me find that shit out myself ok? even if it's gonna be fatal." That is what many of us are missing and that's what makes America the country with the greatest number of old fucks. Meet anyone from the "third world" and you will undoubtedly notice the vast contrast in impulsiveness. We are bound by law, while this kid went out of his way to disregard what already made sense to him. Some people don't know how to make sense of shit and some people don't like when shit makes sense cuz it makes life too predictable and cramped. Hence, superstition and religion and wars and death... etc..etc..etc... i.e., it feels better because it actually feels like something.

[Pubrick]

i still stand by what i said about the real life dude and the book, but i've since seen the film and it was damn good. i think The Pledge is my fave penn but it's hard to rewatch, this i hope to revisit again (maybe a good hangover movie?)

it's nothing like my experience reading the book or what the real life dude must hav been like,.. it's heaps likeable, probably due to the necessary endorsement by his family as someone else has mentioned. successful also thanks to great performances and score, not that it means anything to cut a film into its components.. what really stands out as the key to its success is the TONE it establishes, something like a feeling. it gives us something to immerse ourselves into emotionally before we hav time to think about what's happening in a rational way.

i guess that's sort of what you're saying, polski, but i would focus on the way the film itself is motivated by the consistent feeling that seems to feed the main character. it's something that we feel rush by but never really capture. it's encapsulated perfectly in his last moments - fucking BRILLIANTsequence that makes something special out of what appears to any logical thinker to be the result of idiocy.

[polanski's illegitimate baby]

This is exactly what i wouldn't watch hungover. Getting all sappy because some kid decided to be stupid instead of smart would make me feel like shit the next day bringing about yet another (psychological) hangover. It would be like waking up next to some ugly bitch you had sex with out of drunk sympathy. I can see his point though, and its admirable, i suppose it's more unique but, if in retrospect, i can't look back and justify my "tears" so to speak. Fuck that. It isn't fucking Elephant Man. This is like the indie version of Passion of the Christ.

[Alexandro]

at the video store where I work (ed) this was for ages the most rented movie out of something like 4000, which was insane for us because we really never expected that. I think one of the reasons the film does so well is because it portrays this stupid situation in a way that is appealing. the main character's idealism is highlighted and his basic idiocy all but ignored, which in my view is the easy way out. you're left  with a bunch of superficial visions about society, conformity and personal freedom. it could be argued that making the film in such a subjective point of view is an achievement in itself, but it's so damn easy on the audience. only when hal holbrook appears the movie offers an intelligent counterpoint to this self deluded guy and that's when the film gains some true value for me.

in contrast, grizzly man has the same kind of character at the center and it manages beautifully to both portrait him in all his mad stupidity and with a sincere reverence for his free spirit and willingness to follow his dreams, however illogical. herzog never shies away from the fact that any person who does what any of these two guys do are embarking in an quest of the absurd, and in the end got horrible, primitive deaths because of it. penn on the other hand, puts a lot of sugar and heroism and although i think this is why so many people love the film, to me it's bothersome. what herzog did I find more rewarding and difficult to pull off.

[polanski's illegitimate baby]

Yeah the approach is different, while the latter is inquisitive the first is just self-righteous for no apparent reason. Herzog knows it's crazy, it's been quite a recurring theme in his films. Like when the penguin in the Encounters at the End of the World commits what allegedly looks like suicide. Who knows? Live fast die young. In case of Into the Wild, it obviously boosts the spirits and makes you feel present and engaged in life...then, after showing you reaped benefits, it tells you kindly to fuck off back to your cubicle. I can't be more annoyed...

[pete]

it made sense within the kid's context; he was running away so he did something that was good for him.  I wouldn't judge him or glorify him because of what I saw in the movie; plenty of people do it in real life, and some of them turn out alright.  I enjoy seeing the world through his eyes and fell for kristen stewart and broke my heart when the old man kept on asking him why he was running.  aside from that the movie's literally forgettable because I don't remember anything else that happened.  I think he was a likable enough character, not someone that I could personally identify with, but definitely someone watachable, and I found no need to bring my own real world values to counter the arguments he was making in the film.