“I'm just drifting...”

It’s so strange how we end up getting our own ideas of what films really mean. Even when it’s not some giant mindf*** like Von Trier or Lynch film there’s still – quite often – no telling who’s “right” and “who’s wrong” in the argument of what X film is about. The Graduate is the kind of film that could imply much. In 500 Days of Summer Tom confessed to a complete misreading of the film – and judging from his character, I suppose we can all assume what that was. Still, I’m never sure if The Graduate is as wholly cynical as it sometimes pretends to be.

Emmy winning sound-designer (I know, right?) Yojimbo of Let’s Not Talk About Movies offers some insight below.

"40 years after the fact, The Graduate is a better film than when first released. Taken apart from the flush of the “Summer of Love” and a naïve association with “revolutionary” “stick-it-to-the-Establishment” behavior, it can now be seen for what it is: two kids in the process of becoming their parents. Elaine Robinson, the object of Ben’s ADD affection, is the product of a marriage of convenience, her Mother abandoning her dreams for domesticity, and now Ben Braddock has whisked her off in a similar moment of heat without thought. Meet the new beau, same as the old beau. Brilliantly, Nichols holds on that last shot of the two rebels as the adrenaline seeps away and the 'Now what’s' sink in. The Graduate is better—and more relevant--than ever."

That’s a reading I wasn’t going to come up with by little own self, though that “now what” look at the end always roused me. Even in the original review for The Graduate I was harping on it. But, it’s the uncertainty – of their looks, and the meanings – that adds to the specialness of the ending. I really am whimsical and I like to think a little more positively than Yojimbo there. All evidence seems to imply that the two are headed down a loveless marriage, and then I think “Who knows?” Maybe they will be the unlikely success, and no better way to try that than away from their toxic parents. It’s weird that I end up starting with the ending, though. It’s not the first thing that’s thought of when persons hear of the The Graduate – is it?

It’s weird how Anne Bancroft has become, in a de facto way, the thing that many persons associate The Graduate with. That leg covered in that stocking (which wasn’t even hers to begin with) is certainly alluring, but as strong a performance as she gives Bancroft is just one of the many supporting characters revolving around Dustin Hoffman’s Benjamin Braddock. 

Doesn’t that name read like something we’d get out of a comic book, a la Archie Andrews or Jughead Jones? I’ll always think of Benjamin as Hoffman’s magnum opus (we’ll be discussing the 67 race at the end of the month for The Actor Factor) Still, if I’m to take the words of the fellow cinephiles who’ve admitted to loving the The Graduate into account, it would seem that their thoughts are not far off from mine. The Mad Hatter of the consistently intuitive The Dark of the Matinee weighs in, and his thoughts are not a far cry from Yojimbo.

"What The Graduate does best, is tap into the restlessness that seeps into our conscience when we’re unsure of our next move. From a very young age, we’re taught the road map of life: 'Go to college, get a job, get married, have kids.'

The problem is, if we complete one of those steps and find ourselves unsure of what to do next, we get antsy…and prone to some very bad decision-making. That’s what drives young Benjamin in this movie, and you can tell even he isn’t certain that he’s doing the right this. He drifts from scene-to-scene with a scared expression, and doesn’t live his life so much as he navigates it.

The Graduate wants to teach us that there’s nothing wrong with not knowing the answer. Many of us get to one of these milestones in life – graduation, wedding, kids – and find ourselves thinking “now what?” (For a great example of this, pay attention to the final shot of the film). The trick is to take a moment to ourselves, and think things through. This introspection is what the film wants us to remember, and it’s something young Benjamin never seems to want to do."

I like Hatter’s thoughts on the film’s introspection. I’d still claim it as one of cinema’s brilliant comedies even if it’s more of a “things done funnily” that a “funny things done” situation. In fact, if you get too introspective you might find that The Graduate is too wistful underneath its wan setting and ridiculous characters. Nichols is probably not one we would call an auteur, but consider his film against his one from just a year before – Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf. It’s another ostensibly ridiculous piece that has some disturbing connotations beneath. Just like Martha and George are keen on attaining diversions in their lives to ignore their obvious aches Benjamin prefers to meander from place to place instead of making a conscious effort to “do” something. After all, you can’t be inadvertently guilty of a crime? When The Graduate takes that turning point (the first of many) that has Benjamin pursuing Elaine I’m reminded of a Stephen Sondheim quote “I chose and my world was shaken, so what? The choice may have been mistaken…the choosing was not.” I think it’s the same with Benjamin. I’m still unsure if Benjamin’s choice was the “right” one, but there’s some credibility to be found in the fact that he does make a decision. Despite my general moroseness I’m not intent on approaching the situation as bleak as Yojimbo. It’s probably because Dustin Hoffman is so affable, but I’m rooting for Ben all the way. Like me, Dan leaves room for either side of the coin:

Part of the appeal of Mike Nichols The Graduate comes from when you first discover it. It has a timeless sensibility - life at a crossroads - and it beautifully encompasses the almost surreal realisation of living outside the comfort zone of childhood, of school institutions, of parents and teachers instructing you what to do. The Graduate is life when the warm, safe environment of childhood has disappeared, and adulthood has suddenly been thrust upon you. I suppose, for me, I felt like Ben Braddock when I first saw The Graduate. There’s a great shot of Dustin Hoffman floating in the pool. His father asks him what he is doing. Ben replies: “Well, I would say that I’m just drifting. Here in the pool.” “Why?” asks his father. “It’s very comfortable just to drift here,” says his son. The brilliance of Mike Nichols’ film is in how he offers that guiding light to this twenty-something conundrum. Enter Mrs Robinson. 

I’ve only recently discovered Dan’s Top10Films.co.uk and it’s a blog that’s becoming a favourite. I love the way that both he and The Mad Hatter notice the drifting that’s going on with Ben. It makes me think that perhaps the jury isn’t really that split on what The Graduate is really about after all. I’m afraid I just can’t do it justice when it comes to a second review, but that doesn’t make it any less laudable. It’s still an excellent satire/comedy/social drama…or whatever the hell you want to call it.

Here it is at #9…coming closer to the top with 8 more to go. What do you remember when you think of the The Graduate?

The Taming of the Shrew: Shakespeare Remembered

Another repost in my TOP 100 entry while I'm away...
...I shall be counting down the final ten soon.
              
I have a penchant for Shakespeare. As far as I’m concerned he’s the greatest writer in the world living or dead, and I’ve always taken a liking to films based on his plays. Some are good and some are not so good, but I am very fond of this particular adaptation. The Taming of the Shrew is one of the best Shakespeare adaptations to hit the big screen. It’s just a really good film – the writing, the direction, the costumes and oh the acting. I’m trying to describe this film and all the words coming to me are superlatives. Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor are two of the greatest actors ever and this is their second best collaboration (second only to Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?). The strength of this play lies in the portrayal of the main character Katherine – the eponymous Shrew and Elizabeth Taylor is magnificent in this tour-de-force role. If Hamlet is the best male role Shakespeare ever wrote then Katherine is definitely the best female role.

The story of The Taming of the Shrew is simple. Katherine is the older daughter of Baptista a nobleman of Padua. She is a shrewish and temperamental young woman who vows never to marry. Her sister Bianca is somewhat of a hussy – well as much as you can be in the 1500s. She has countless suitors flocking to her, but Baptista refuses to relinquish his youngest until the older is betrothed…which doesn’t look too likely. A rather brash man shows up in Padua willing to try his hand at wooing at Katherine since she has a respectable dowry on her. What ensues is a string of highly comedic scenes and lots of loud voices with much hilarity. If you know how it ends (and shame on you if you don’t) you’ll know that the ending is somewhat unsatisfying in terms of the women, but I always figured that this was meant to be a satire (like most Shakespeare comedies) and not a realistic outlook on life. And at the end of this movie, there's a shot of Katharine's face that seems very enigmatic.
                        
It’s a testimony to Elizabeth Taylor that whenever I read "The Taming of the Shrew" it is her, and only her, that I imagine as Katherine. You’re probably wondering, is she the only good in the film? Of course not. Richard Burton more than matches her as the cad Petruchio. We already know that they had great chemistry, but it’s really heightened in this film and especially the wooing scene is just a joy to watch. The physicality of both their performances is just engrossing. And with Liz and Richard doing their thing it’s quite hard actually for anyone else to get a noticed. The original play was already working against them because only Katherine and Petruchio have especially strong scenes. However, Victor Spinetti who plays Hortensio – a friend of Petruchio – was memorable in his supporting turn.


It’s kind of beyond me as to why this movie only got 2 Oscar nominations [for Costume and Art Design] I mean, the year wasn’t exactly THAT tough. The nominated the goddman Dr. Dolittle for best picture. What's more amazing is that this movie was shot after Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? where they both went the deglam route.
                 
This is #95 on my lists of memorable films, and if you haven't seen it, and many haven't, you should definitely go and check this film out. You won't be disappointed...I hope. In addition to the great acting of the leads, the aforementioned costume and set decoration, this film boasts a melodic comedic score, and beautiful cinematography. Franco Ziffirelli does a good job directing the film, and although it doesn't stick staunchly to the play it's still too much fun for me not to love it.

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner I believe is the first Katharine Hepburn movie I saw. Of course, at the time I didn’t know who Katharine Hepburn was and I was looking at it more for general boredom and because it had Sidney Poitier. How times have changed. One thing that struck me about the film was how tastefully everything was done. Sure, Kramer’s screenplay is a bit unrealistic and even a bit on the schmaltzy side, but the film never veered into the annoying or the superfluous, it was always very, very sophisticated. And I suppose this is why I’m a fan of it.

                 

Today, the film’s nomination for Best Picture [and it’s Best Actress win] are somewhat maligned. Although I’ve never found Christina Drayton to be Kate’s more accomplished roles, I wouldn’t deny the fact that the performance was good. As much as I love The Graduate I never thought Anne Bancroft deserved that much attention for her supporting role. All things equal, I suppose Kate’s Christina was supporting too; and I wonder if the performance would be as maligned if she’d won Best Supporting Actress that year over Estelle Parsons. Still, the only nominee that I would have readily handed the Oscar over to was the other Hepburn. But I digress. Kate is phoning it in a bit in the performance, but I still find her performance to be oddly delightful.

There are some key moments to Kate’s performance in Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner. There is, of course, that now legendary confrontation she has with her subordinate. It’s one of the funnier parts of the performance [and film] and Kate handles the bigoted [] quite well. I like the way she plays it, because it seems that after seeing how nasty [] looks she’ll have nothing to do with dissuading Dr. Prentice from marrying Joey. That almost frivolous ice-cream drive is not as silly as it seems. Kate’s quasi monologue to her husband seems to be the basis of her happiness for Joey. She realises that [black-or-white] Joey has found someone she can be of use to, and be happy with – and this pleases her. Much has been said of her teary eyes in the film [and all those wretched close-ups from Kramer], and there’s no crying scene more important than when she parts ways with her husband. It’s a nice little moment for the two thespians – this is Tracy’s film – but Kate has a nice little important part in the bedroom and that long voiceless walk down the stairs as she stares out at the sky is beautiful in its own clichéd way.

                     

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner is #92 on my list of favourites, so perhaps I am a bit easy on it [obviously]. Regardless of whether or not Kate’s win makes you happy or annoyed, there is something good to be taken from the film. And even if it’s not your favourite Kate win, it’s a good place to start when looking at the shades of Katharine Hepburn

         
Addendum. I read this before seeing Joe's review. I guess you can see it and not find anything redeeming :)