A great movie

I always liked the movies directed by Sean Penn so I was really eager to watch this flick but I never thought it would be that good. I mean, I heard the critics were good but I didn't expect to be blown away like this. Until now, I thought Sean Penn was a pretty good director but this one is his best by far. Indeed, I thought it was a really fascinating and thoughtfull story with some great directing and acting. Emile Hirsch shows here he is a very talented actor and I am really curious to see what he will do in the future (Eventually, 3 years later, I'm still waiting...). The thing I most enjoyed is that the main character was, at the same time, inspiring and rather fascinating, but through his choices, he was also displayed as a rather selfish and arrogant young fellow and the duplicity of this character made him even more human and even more interesting to watch. I don't know, I guess, to enjoy this movie, you still have to relate with the main character's state of mind, otherwise the whole thing might seem pretentious, juvenile or even stupid to you. I mean, I would have never dare leave home like this (I did immigrate to the Netherlands when I was 22 years so I still get some extra points, I guess) but I sure can understand that someone would get fed up with our society, drop the whole thing and just get on the road. To conclude, I really loved this flick, it is one of my all-time favorites and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Sean Penn's work as a director.

9/10