A good movie but very overrated I think

Rating: 6/10 (27 May 2012)

"Mrs. Robinson, you are trying to seduce me aren't you?" Isn't this a clichéd dialog. Yes it is very clichéd but not in the context of movie, where it seems apt and fluid.
It's a great example how simple things can be made interesting. It's the way we narrate a story makes it interesting and that's what directors or few audience call it as TREATMENT. So watch this out for treatment more than anything else. In times such as 1967, where world was grooving in Hippies and Rock music began with Beatles and few other bands, comes this satirical movie that questions the society. This movie has no dope, no rock music and no hippie stuff. It's about a mundane boy and his teenage thoughts. He is apprehensive about sleeping with a woman much elder to his age and yet falls into the temptation of her. Now, the point is he has to marry her daughter and make her fall in love for him. So that's where the movie is going to go.
Is it right to fall into temptations and also fall into love with a daughter of the temptation? Ah, unacceptable still for those tradition lovers but again the context has been put so finely well that rather than questioning more, it's better to give in to the character's state of thinking at that time.
Yet, this is not a perennially contemporary that will be embraced at any time you watch it. In 1967 people would have loved it as they are watching such a taboo issue being dealt for first time. In 2012 that is 45 years later, many would have seen such movies or such issues being held in a much more interesting way. At least no this this clichéd. There is a subtext to the character and a relevance of simplicity and that's why I liked it.
The costumes just complement the vision and so is an emphatic sound design and oh, did I miss the music by Simon and Garfunkel that is apt and perfect and has a character to it, when the song Mrs. Robinson comes up. The performances are fine and Dustin Hoffman as Graduate plays it supremely well. All said and above is the writing that makes it a story worth watching and being compelled to.
I liked it for most part except a silly ending of running away, yet there is an inherent meaning to it conveyed only in expressions. I would with 3/5 that is so very important and is yet a taboo is our society. Not sure, how may may like it as it is, yet I liked it.