Brilliantly Ironic Poetic Film

Rating: 10/10 (17 February 2018)

This week I chose to watch a dramedy called Dead Poets Society (1989). The logline reads "English teacher John Keating inspires his students to look at poetry with a different perspective of authentic knowledge and feelings." The movie made me feel inspired as an artist. At its core the story embraces Shakespeare's line "to thine own self be true." In this story John Keating, the new English teacher exercises unconventional methods to help the students grasps their individual senses of artistic freedom and the importance of not being governed by others rather embracing one's own identity and desires. Through a series of ups and downs the students have to come to terms with the depths of what that means. The story made me think about how important it is for people to be accepting of one another, especially for parents to accept their children no matter how different they are. The movie also reminded me that each person just might define success differently. A parent may see success in career and financial status whereas a son may see success as penniless but enjoying his or her career.
I think the story writing here was brilliant. The ideas were strongly conveyed through the dialogue script and even paid tribute to its poetic theme by using such things as irony, foil, and foreshadowing techniques. The acting was great too. Obviously Robin Williams stole the show, but he younger men were quite talented. The directing was great and mostly felt seamless. The pacing seemed a little slow to me at some points, and some of the cave scenes reminded me of The Breakfast Club (1985). The movie was made by Touchstone Pictures so of course it was professional quality. I liked the use of lighting and there were definite moments of contrast where the lighting was used to highlight the inner "dark thoughts" in certain moments. Overall, I loved the film and wish I would have seen it sooner.