After a few precious years of programming movies for you, I, along with my compatriots Lucas San Juan, Gabriel Urbina, and Ethan Young, all ’13, am being sent to the sunny pasture where ex-Film Board members argue about auteurs all day, forever. It’s been an honor, a delight, and also a really fun power trip (apologies to Zach Schonfeld ’13 for being a Leone cocktease). It’s also been an invaluable part of my life over recent years, and if you’ve taken the time to come to see anything, from the crystalline print of Carl Dreyer’s “Day of Wrath” to the rousing screening of “Jurassic Park,” I would like to express my gratitude to you for imbuing this exploration, argumentation, and obsession with a point. So yeah, thanks.
Also, as I will soon no longer be able to, I would like to make one last appeal to everyone to go to the movies at Wesleyan. The film series can be easy to take for granted, but to have a wide range of exceptional films brought directly to you remains a totally unique experience that, unless you find yourself at the helm of a major distribution firm, will probably never happen again. In case you haven’t heard, the rise of digital is making 35 mm film prints perilously scarce. The opportunity to see these films as they were intended to be viewed could really be quite precious. For most of these movies, you will probably never have this chance again.
On a less dour note, however, these movies are entertaining, challenging, sexy, funny, mind-expanding, and delightful. They are, almost without exception, worth your time. Be they collective festivities like “The Room” or undiscovered gems like Aleksei Guerman’s “My Friend Ivan Lapshin,” a rare American screening of the late director’s masterpiece, these films have the potential to show you something new or make you rethink something you didn’t know you believed. Watching a few of them will almost certainly make you a more interesting person to talk to. Even if you haven’t heard of a given film, check it out. As great as Netflix’s online TV library is, don’t let slip this repository of new experiences. It is kind of what college is for.
But before I hand over the Cine-Files to Andreas Steuli and Lilly Holman, both ’15, I still have an article to write. There is still a full calendar of films before Lucas, Gabriel, Ethan and I are sent to the farm for an endless stream of films by Cameron. No, Eisenstein. Montage sucks, how about Preminger? Maybe something silent, Keaton or Lang or Dovzhenko or—
THE LAND BEFORE TIME
1988. USA. Dir. Don Bluth. Animated.
69 min. Friday, March 29. 8 p.m. $5
Weirdly, this is the first movie I was ever really into. I haven’t seen it since early childhood, but based on what I remember, Bambi’s mom dies in the beginning, then some scary-ass T-Rexes show up, and eventually your mom brings you dessert. Also, it’s super short, so you’ll be out by bedtime.
SUNSET BOULEVARD
1950. USA. Dir. Billy Wilder. With Gloria Swanson, William Holden.
110 min. Saturday, March 30. 8 p.m. FREE
Are you feeling anxious about graduating with a degree in film? Good. Because if Billy Wilder is right, it won’t be long before you’re floating face down in some actress’ sad pool. This fatalistic masterpiece gleams with dark humor and slicing satire, basking gloriously in a Hollywood gothic all its own. And remember, there’s always time to change your path… until there isn’t.