Amy WangOh Mrs. Robinson
July 24th 2009 08:40
Firstly, can I just say...I now understand that Simpsons episode where Grandpa Simpson drags Mrs Bouvier onto that bus and that song starts playing!!!!! My life's purpose has been fulfilled at last. It was a reference to THE GRADUATE.
The Graduate, a film by the ever so talented Mike Nichols is a story about a young college graduate who returns home with no real ambition and many regrets in life leading up to now. He is upset about where his life is going but is too timid to do anything about it. This film is very much a character driven piece, and the audience is taken on a journey with this young naive man as he goes through a whirlwind journey of strangeness, being seduced by an older woman, falling in love with her daughter and then eventually heading off into the world as clueless about it as he started off. Having said that, the hilarity that comes in between both from the other quirky characters or from the situations he gets himself in is just tantalising.
Dustin Hoffman plays this character to perfection. His shyness towards Mrs. Robinson, the woman who successfully seduces him is sad yet hilarious and his stupidity at times can make you want to hit him on the head and scream "grow some balls!" However, there are also times where he does things to please Mrs. Robinson and in effect, he hurts other characters and can come across as a real jerk. I really didn't know what to expect when I first started watching this movie. I thought it was just going to be a simple story about an affair between an older woman and a much younger man and the effects of that. What I got however was a cinematic masterpiece!
I don't even know where to begin raving about the camerawork used in this film. The cinematography was inspiring beyond belief, utilising techniques I believe was so experimental at the time and I'm sure influencing future cinema. I mean, this film was made in the 1960s and to me, it felt like I was watching a Wes Anderson film or a Spike Jonze film. I was tres tres impressed. I particularly liked the inclusion of zooms. Where it is the norm to discard zooms as amateurish, The Graduate's inclusion of this technique really added to the strange way Ben Braddock (Dustin's character) saw the world. There were also many POV (point of view) shots where the audience is literally seeing the world through the eyes of Ben. They were very effective in making the audience, again, feel what Ben is feeling and experience the world through Ben's mindframe.
The cast in the film was phenomenal. Mrs. Robinson played by Anne Bancroft was such a pleasure. Character wise, she was a cold bitch, but man was her acting convincing. Her natural flair at playing such a manipulative, confident yet seductive woman was the perfect opposite to Ben's fumbling, awkward character.
The humour in the film was very offbeat, often delving into black humour at times. Even though this poor kid is wrapped up in all this chaos, and all to do with this one family, you can't help but laugh at his misfortune and the way he handles it.
I think another reason why I enjoyed this film so much was also because in a way, Ben's character speaks to all students who are completing a degree at the moment or have completed one and are now stuck in a position where they don't know where to go in life now, or are questioning whether accounting or economics is really what they want to dedicate the rest of their lives to. I for one feel very lucky that I can do something I am so in love with, film. But for many others, I'm sure no one jumps for joy every morning before they leave to calculate numbers. Finding a path in life is difficult, especially one that interests you. And then there are all these other factors involved such as income, prestige, and most of all, sustainability.
I haven't seen a film with this originality and flair for a long, long time! I'm giving it 5 STARS OUT OF 5.
Peace.
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