Dear Readers,
Spring is wafting around the corner and, with it, countless reminders of life’s bittersweet impermanence (R.I.P. Kurt Vonnegut). In this spirit of inexorable change, it is my solemn duty to alert you to some important changes within the world of the Film Series:
1. A new Wesleyan Film Board has been elected and, along with it, a pair of fabulous new writers to take over this column (though Anna and myself may still make the odd cameo in the remaining weeks of the semester). Just as the names Goldblatt and Schulkin once sounded their clarion call through these hallowed pages, the torch of the Film Series column will now burn strong and pure in the hands of Thad Ruzicka ’08 and Melissa Tuckman ’08, a pair of juniors gifted in the ways of the quill and ink. Read on for their first introduction penned together.
2. The new Film Board has put suggestion boxes for the Film Series all around campus. If you want your voices heard in the programming of the Film Series, make sure to give the new Board suggestions as they begin to program the schedule for next fall. These suggestions are taken very seriously and often form the basis for many of the films we program.
“It’s been real, homies.”
-Will Di Novi
Kurt Vonnegut is dead. We will miss this beloved novelist, whose sincerity, charm, and graceful sense of pacing suggested a profound respect for the cinematic. If his books lacked subtlety, they were consequently memorable. As Professor Tololyan once told his Recent American Fiction class: “’Slaughterhouse 5′ may be a failure, but it is a poignant failure.”
On that note, Will Di Novi and Anna Rabinovitch will no longer be writing the film series column! Thaddeus is a wise and wizened film major, who has seen columnists come and go, and remains suspicious about the prospect of conveying the movie-going experience in writing. Melissa has taken only one film class in her life, and for some reason advocates weekly showings of “Dreamgirls.” So this should turn out really well!
– Melissa and Thad
“Children of Men”
(USA, D: Alfonso Cuarón, 2006)
Friday, Apr. 13, 8 p.m. $4
Alfonso Cuarón has a thing for young people; in addition to directing the third “Harry Potter” movie, he also dramatized the erotic nihilism of friendships between adolescent men in his celebrated 2001 film, “Y tu mama también.” His version of dystopia, then, is a world without kids. Set in 2027, “Children of Men” depicts an apocalyptic future in which women cannot conceive, opening with the death of the “youngest person in the world.” This movie features some of the most terrifying roadside gangs, unexpected deaths, and engrossing battle scenes you’ll ever encounter, but it also serves as a fascinating reflection of Cuarón’s own reverence for youth.
“I’m No Angel”
(USA, D: Wesley Ruggles, 1933)
“Call Her Savage”
(USA, D: John Francis Dillon, 1932)
Thursday, April 14, 8 p.m. FREE!
Prepare to be scandalized by these naughty “pre-Code” films from the era before censors started screwing Hollywood into their puritanical vices. In “I’m No Angel,” you’ll get your fix of lion taming and rampant promiscuity. In “Call Her Savage”, starring 30’s sex bomb Clara Bow, enjoy a lusty encounter with a Great Dane and some terrific scenes in drag.
“Down By Law”
(USA, D: Jim Jarmusch, 1986)
Wednesday, April 18, 8 p.m. $4
“Down by Law” features one of the best central casts of the last 20 years. The genius musician, actor, and fisherman John Lurie is joined by fellow musician, actor, and fisherman Tom Waits and genuine madman Roberto Benigni in perhaps the most challenging jailbreak comedy of all time. “Down by Law” oozes with cool. Robby Muller, Jarmusch’s career cinematographer, lends the film a glorious black and white sheen that will look fantastic on the big screen. Also, any film that features the junky king, Rockets Redglare (addicted to smack from birth), should be seen by one and all.
WESFEST SPECIAL EVENT!!
“After Innocence”
(USA, D: Jessica Sanders, 2005)
Thursday, April 19, 8 p.m. FREE!
Join us for our special Film Studies WesFest event. Acclaimed director and Wes Alum Jessica Sanders ’99 will present “After Innocence,” followed afterwards by Q&A. “After Innocence” tells the compelling story of innocent men wrongfully convicted and cleared by DNA evidence, charting their dramatic struggle to re-enter society after spending decades in prison. The film premiered at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Special Jury Prize. Gripping and emotionally charged, this is a must-see for anyone who upholds notions of social justice.
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