Member review

“Mrs Robinson, you're trying to seduce me” New wave meet American cinema, American cinema meet new wave. No other country in the history of cinema have contributed more to film and the splendid and beautiful tapestry of dreams that can so easily captivate a whole generation that it is, than America and France, insurmountable juggernauts – the very godfathers of the medium. So you would think collaborations between the two were a given right? That similar to football where a team would do what they can to get the two best players in the world in Ronaldo and Messi on the very same team and that’s what every director would do with America and Frances. But fortunately for, a marriage of so much potential did come to fruition in the winter of 67, accompanied with a certain Midnight Cowboy, and would go on to be the most defining decade for one of modern cinemas greatest talents in Dustin Hoffman. The guy, who also brought us an Academy award winner Rain Man, was the very same guy who was told by a certain aunt that "You can't be an actor. You are not good-looking enough." Boy was she was wrong, but that’s a great message for all you kids, people may say you can’t do something, but if you believe in yourself, and with hard work you can do anything – anyway enough of the mum and dad speech, back to the review. Director Mike Nichols’s The Graduate tells the tale of Benjamin (Dustin Hoffman) and his chaotic whirlwind of life, similarly experienced by most college graduates, where constant pressure about your future, from both interior, parents and the media are perpetually subjecting you too, when all you really want to do is just lay about in your parents pool and do nothing – one problem, your next door neighbors wife, to answer the quote I started with, yes she is trying to seduce you. But after a few casual and meaningless affairs with Mrs Robinson (Anne Bancroft), a spanner is thrown into the work when Ben falls in love with Mrs Robinson’s daughter (Katherine Ross) - duh duh duh… Soap opera moment right there! But it’s not as cheesy as it might seem, on the contrary in fact, it does play out with a lot of comedic flair, but at the same time the brilliant acting performance exhibited by the three main charters add an element of heart and emotion, every bit as captivating as you would find in serious film like Schindler’s list. If I sat down and gave you every superlative that came into my mind to describe what I felt whilst watching The Graduate, I would literally run out of words, not only in the English, but quiet possibly every language none to man, even the made up ones. And I say all this, because The Graduate is an absolutely masterful piece of cinema, that give us an interesting insight in middle America and their scandalous life’s portrayed through articulate social commentary. And what I also love is the very later ball characters, despite being words apart economically; the film helps you remember we are all connected through love and pain. But the very best aspect of The Graduate is that it is blessed with quick, snappy and witty dialogue, cleverly architected by writers Calder Willingham and Buck Henry, based on a novel by Charles Webb. You just have to refer to the quote above, which I’m pretty sure you would have already heard thousands of time before, but couldn't quiet place it, but lucky for you I have come to rescue, the film is The Graduate. Go watch it, then when you’re done, watch it again so you can take in every last tiny portion of brilliance that it is, and watch out for the extremely ambiguous ending, it will leave you praying at Oscar winner Mike Nichols’s door step for a sequel, just like me.