Films/DVD Asylum

"The New Yorker pans it, brutally." LOL! Actually, ROTFLOL!

208.58.2.83

clarkjohnsen

In Reply to: RE: I Survived Into the Wild. posted by tinear on October 11, 2007 at 04:41:48

First of all, he pans Penn. And then, "he" happens to be not the New Yorker's insightful, witty Anthony Lane, but the dull, dreary David Denby.

clark

Follow Ups:

You're right, in general, about the relative merits of Denby and - tinear 05:01:33 10/12/07 (0)
Lane but way off in your contention that Denby merely takes issue with Penn.
"McCandless (the lead character) rejects not only family and bourgeois life but also sensual life, and he's incapable of sustaining an interest in anyone outside himself."
Denby goes on to say that the young man heavily has been influenced by Tolstoy's writings but that it is superficial: Tolstoy, after all, only "rejected" life after he had lived an extraordinarily full one.
Lastly, Denby doesn't criticize Penn per se, as you imply, but rather his shortcomings as a director IN THIS FILM, in which Penn emphasizes the false saintliness of the young man while ignoring his incredible selfishness, naivete, and self-destructiveness.
Goethe did it best, of course, in "The Sorrows of Young Werther." This led to a wave of suicides in Germany....
RE: "The New Yorker pans it, brutally." LOL! Actually, ROTFLOL! - rico 11:33:53 10/11/07 (0)
Right on, Clark, couldn't agree more. I am always elated when I see Lane's name in the TOC andd disapointed to see Denby's.

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