The Graduate

Rating: 9/10 (8 May 2014)

This movie has been on my "movies I need to watch" list for a very long time and I can finally check it off! This is a brilliantly edited movie and extremely charming. It is great that even though this movie was made in the 60s it is still relate-able to teens today. The idea of not knowing what you want to do, but you know you want to do something "different" is still around, the youth felt misunderstood and separated from their parents and earlier generations. The Graduate is able to showcase this idea and make it funny. The Graduate as I mention before is fantastically edited. One scene that I enjoyed was in the beginning when Ben is just walking around his house at his homecoming party and is being constantly stopped by adults bombarding him with questions. The camera follows Ben as he quickly ends conversations but is only trapped into a new after only a few steps. We are able to feel the annoyance building up in Ben and also get the feeling of becoming claustrophobic, the camera stay tight near Ben as if we are standing right next to him. Another example of great editing is of course the scene when Mrs. Robinson tries to seduce Ben. We see Ben's shocked face and then the camera will cut to Mrs. Robinson and show a quick shot of nudity but only to cut back to Ben's face again. This technique is inventive and interesting. Showing us what Ben sees but only for a second at a time. This movie has so many amazing things about it, it's such a charming and relate-able movie even when it does get a little ridiculous.