Ah, WesFest! The loveliest time of the year. The sun shines, the birds chirp, prospective students cover the campus in a blanket of earnest anxiety. Everyone is at their friendliest, and everything reaches towards the putrefying pinnacle of collegiate commercialism. It’s kind of like walking around in a giant infomercial—enroll within the next 10 minutes and you’ll be almost as cool as we are. Or something. Education becomes entertainment, and entertainment, education. Everything is just so damn fun. The Film Series, of course, is no exception. From the latest in shiny, shiny Oscar candy to a classic of silent cinema, the Goldsmith is perfectly poised to launch pre-frosh into ecstatic throes of uncontrollable enthusiasm.

A SINGLE MAN
2009. USA. Dir: Tom Ford. With Colin Firth, Julianne Moore. 101 minutes.
TONIGHT, APRIL 16, 8 p.m., $5
In an outstanding performance as the eponymous single man (because his boyfriend died—get it?), Colin Firth has suicide and the 1960s on the brain as he wanders through what he’s decided will be his last day on Earth. But as he plans his imminent death, everyone else seems to think they can cheer him up by trying to get into his stylish suit pants, including his best friend, Julianne Moore, who seems undeterred by the fact that he’s totally gay. If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like if a fashion designer directed a movie, this is the film for you. First time director Tom Ford worked wonders at Gucci during the ’90s, catapulting the company back to prominence and nearly doubling the company’s sales within a year of becoming creative director. Apparently, he’s just as good at making movies as he is at making snappy, chrome boots.

OUR HOSPITALITY
1923. USA. Dir: John G. Blystone, Buster Keaton. With Buster Keaton. 73 minutes.
SATURDAY, APRIL 17, 8 p.m., FREE
We’ve all been there. You’re in love with a beautiful girl, but her family just doesn’t approve and decides that they’d rather pump you full of lead and leave your body to rot at the bottom of a waterfall than let you anywhere near their daughter. Luckily for Buster Keaton in this silent comedy, the homicidal family in question also happens to be very, very southern. So southern, in fact, that they feel obliged to treat him as an honored guest when he’s in their house, and have to resort instead to tricking poor Buster into leaving the premises before they can murder him in all sorts of fun, violent ways. The Museum of Modern Art’s resident silent film accompanist, Ben Model, will be on hand to perform one of his playful, self-composed and often improvised scores.

THE WHITE RIBBON
2009. Austria. Dir: Michael Haneke. With Christian Friedel. 144 minutes.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 8 p.m., $5
Michael Haneke’s latest film tackles an age-old question: What’s up with Nazis? How did that whole thing get started? According to Haneke, the answer is simple: Too much sexual repression in early 20th century Germany. Duh. Seriously though, as upsetting as the film is to watch, it’s beautiful to look at. It may have lost Best Cinematography to AVATAR at the Oscars this year, but don’t let its boring old two-dimensions fool you. The mere fact that a black and white film can be nominated for cinematography in 2010 attests to the power of the film’s grim images and the careful consideration DP Christian Berger brings to every frame.

YOUTH IN REVOLT
2010. USA. Dir: Miguel Arteta. With Michael Cera, Portia Doubleday. 90 minutes.
THURSDAY, APRIL 22, 8 p.m., FREE
The latest entry in our Independent Filmmaker Speaker Series brings another Wes alum back to campus, Miguel Arteta ’89. Arteta made his name on the independent scene with STAR MAPS and CHUCK & BUCK in the late ’90s and early ’00s, and has brought his unsettling brand of humor into more mainstream projects as of late. YOUTH IN REVOLT finds the ever-chaste Michael Cera once again in a position to have his cherry popped by a girl he may or may not discover he is completely 100 percent in love with. Except this time he creates a mustachioed bad boy and/or hipster alter ego to seduce the girl. And he’s 14. Arteta will be there to take questions about why he’s so awesome.

P.S. Thanks for all your awesome Film Series suggestions, guys. We’re going through the bunch right now, but I can tell you a few of the ones that have unfortunately been eliminated: THE LAND BEFORE TIME, which is just too hard to get a print of; SCREAM 3, which you’ll remember for its excellent tagline, “The Final Scream is going to be the loudest!” (not surprisingly, SCREAM 4 comes out in 2011); and saddest of all, D2: THE MIGHTY DUCKS, which was the first movie that ever made me cry.