the last movie i saw

This was certainly a movie weekend. Today, hungover and dealing with a case of "I did what last night?" I decided to finally see Into the Wild, the much-lauded new film from director (and kick-ass actor) Sean Penn.
It's the true story of a college grad (Emile Hirsch) who ditches the trappings of his bourgeois family life, snips his credit cards, donates his savings to charity and hits the open road. He heads West, of course, in search of the restorative power of the natural landscape.
It's a stunning film, deeply moving, but, thankfully, never cloying or sentimental. It plays almost like a video diary, a collection of vivid images and moments often set against a stirring score or original Eddie Vedder song (I've never really been into him, but here he provides the perfect sound for the action).
The film, like so many right now, toys with chronology. Unlike, say Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, it's an effective device here. Because Hirsch's fleeting encounters with random strangers comprise so much of the movie, a non-linear structure prevents the film from becoming episodic. The performances are uniformly excellent. Hirsch ably carries the whole thing, with dynamic supporting work from Catherine Keener as an aging hippie and surrogate mother, Marcia Gay Harden as Hirsch's real-life, nightmarish mom, and especially Hal Holbrook as a lonely do-gooder who meets Hirsch late in his journey. Holbrook's a suave old-timer, and I wouldn't be surprised to see him walk off with an award or two for this one. His performance, like the film, is tender and moving.