I’m pretty sure that it is statistically impossible to be at Wesleyan this semester and not be taking either (or both) “The Past on Film” or “Western Movies: Myth, Ideology, and Genre.” The sheer amount of students enrolled in these classes has two direct impacts on the student community. First, you are probably listening to six hours a week of musings from the president of a major university or a draft-dodging Bolshevist named Slotkin. Second, you know both the location of the Center for Film Studies and how great the theater is. Hence, the excuses for not going to the Film Series are dwindling. I might have considered the weather as a good excuse, but you’re not getting a tan, and there’s nothing fun to do outside. I was planning on forgoing my thesis this February to stare at the snow, hang out with Peaches, and sled the pain away, but I guess it’s so crappy out there that I’ll have to try to get honors and go watch movies at the Film Series. You should do the same.

BLUE VELVET
USA, Dir: David Lynch. 1986
FRIDAY, Feb. 8, 7:30 p.m. $4

This is the David Lynch film to lie about. This is the movie that you tell your friends that you have seen even though you haven’t. I know it’s sitting in Hollywood Video, or somewhere behind “Cruel Intentions” on your Netflix queue, and I know you’ve been meaning to see it since early high school. It’s okay: now is your chance. Kyle MacLachlan, Isabella Rossellini, Laura Dern and the insatiable Dennis Hopper will be waiting for you in 35mm on Friday. Go with your friends. They’ve all seen it.

RIFIFI
FRANCE, Dir: Jules Dassin. 1955
SATURDAY, Feb. 9, 7:30 p.m. Free!

In doing a bit of research (Wikipedia) on “Rififi”—I wanted to have something to say other than: come see this awesome French heist film with an intensely suspenseful use of silence—I came across a biography of Jules Dassin, the director of the film. I initially thought, “This guy has a quintessential French director’s name. French cinema is oozing with guys named Jules and his last name is basically the French word for sketch.” Anyway, it turns out that this deceptive son-of-a-bitch is actually an American and is from Middletown. He was a skilled Hollywood noir director who was blacklisted in the 1950s, and made “Rififi” in France while in celluloid exile. It’s quite an astonishing film and is one of only two foreign language films that we have on this calendar.

MEAN STREETS
USA, Dir: Martin Scorsese. 1973
WEDNESDAY, Feb. 13, 7:30 p.m. $4

The definitively explosive, highly personal early film from Scorsese is one of my absolute favorites. It stars very young, nearly childlike versions of Harvey Keitel and Robert De Niro trying to stay a step ahead of the violence that is within and around them. I first saw this film in high school at a midnight screening on 35mm in a small old theater. When I walked out, I was jittered out of my mind and glancing over my shoulder every two seconds. My friend and I had driven separately, and he pulled out of the parking lot first, and we both drove the wrong way down a one-way street. He got pulled over by a cop almost immediately, and I was still stuck in the movie, so I started furiously circling the block as The Ronettes looped in my head. My reaction was nearly inexplicable and divinely stupid, but there is definitely power somewhere under this film.

PUNCH DRUNK LOVE
USA, Dir: Paul Thomas Anderson. 2002
THURSDAY, Feb. 14, 7:30 p.m. Free!

Do you guys like all those voices that Adam Sandler does? Didn’t you love “Eight Crazy Nights”? What about “The Chanukah Song”? I think it’s a safe bet to say that Sandler is by far the most reasoned and least annoying comedian around. His appearance in P.T. Anderson’s “Punch Drunk Love” is therefore completely rational and not surprising at all. “Punch Drunk Love” was released in 2002, which was actually a long time ago, and Anderson hasn’t made a film until right now with the wildly acclaimed “There Will Be Blood.” If you have already seen “There Will Be Blood,” this is a great opportunity to step back and revisit a not often noted piece of Anderson’s career.