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Question

The story is entirely original and unique, one that takes the conventions of the genre and bends them to a tell a wholly convincing love story that resonates in the mind long after the last image has faded from the screen.

Does one begin a sentence here? Can it be the subject of the sentence with story as its antecedent? Instead of having (It is one )

The film won rave reviews—what many have called a visual poem about the search for belonging.

Does it need (in what) or split into two sentences.

what many have called a visual poem about the search for belonging.

Can this stand alone as a complete sentence with rave reviews as an antecedent?

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

panda blue 483Does one begin a sentence here? Can it be the subject of the sentence with story as its antecedent? Instead of having (It is one )

Yes. "Is" carries over to it.

panda blue 483The film won rave reviews—what many have called a visual poem about the search for belonging. Does it need (in what) or split into two sentences.

As it stands, the reviews are a visual poem—not what is meant. To use the phrases as they are, you have to put them next to their partners: "The film—what many have called a visual poem about the search for belonging—won rave reviews." This is not so good because the reader has to wait too long for the verb. Maybe "The film won rave reviews for being what many have called a visual poem about the search for belonging." I am not in love with that, either, but it works.

panda blue 483what many have called a visual poem about the search for belonging.Can this stand alone as a complete sentence with rave reviews as an antecedent?

It's not a sentence, and the reviews are not a poem.

GPY · Answer

panda blue 483Does one begin a sentence here? Can it be the subject of the sentence with story as its antecedent? Instead of having (It is one )

By definition it does not begin a sentence as it is preceded by a comma. "one ... screen" is a long noun phrase. Neither the word "one" nor the whole phrase is the subject of anything in this sentence.

panda blue 483The film won rave reviews—what many have called a visual poem about the search for belonging.
Does it need (in what) or split into two sentences.

No, but the sentence does not work very well for me. I start to read the "what" part as referring to the reviews, which obviously is not the intention.

panda blue 483what many have called a visual poem about the search for belonging.
Can this stand alone as a complete sentence with rave reviews as an antecedent?

No, the part "what ... belonging" is again a noun phrase ("what" = "something that"), and it cannot stand alone as a sentence.

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