Sunday, September 30, 2007

Into The Wild

I've never read the book. Never read any Jon Krakauer. As a rule I don't like books about people fighting the primal forces of nature. I'm doing that everyday in Los Angeles and I'll stick with THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT. But I did go see the film of INTO THE WILD. And y'all should too as it's one of the best movies of the year. Great performances, especially Hal Halbrook in a heart tweaking role. Sean Penn doesn't completely romanticize the story, altho it's infused with the love of travel and adventure until things get out of hand. I think the film is overdirected in places, and a little Eddie Vedder goes a long way, but it's well worth the three hour running time.

Now quick, tell me if Penn's credit is grammatically correct:

"Screenplay and Directed by Sean Penn"

3 comments:

Ella C. Rotta said...

Grammar is fun! "Screenplay" is a noun. "Directed by Sean Penn" is an abbreviated passive form of the sentence "Sean Penn directed [Into the Wild]". Strunk and White Part II Section 19 says "Express coordinate ideas in similar form." Therefore, it would have been correct to say either "Screenplay and Direction by Sean Penn" or "Written and Directed by Sean Penn." I think.

xtian said...

Exactly correct, Ella. Of course, I've never been able to diagram a sentence in my life. I remember when Mrs. Morgan started explaining it to us in 6th grade and I raised my hand and said, "You mean we have to do math with words?"

Bridget said...

Ella, do you edit by the hour? Because I'd pay.

As for Xtian...how did you graduate middle school without reading Into The Wild? Seems very hard to believe.