Movies have been an almost essential part of culture and society in America for decades. The cinema is a classic place to go for a date, or a place to bring the family at the end of a long week, or just going out with your close buddies to watch the newest release. For this senior project, we had the simple goal of understanding movies in a deeper way. To us, movies have a dual purpose. They can satisfy our desire to see a huge green superhero punching a Nordic god, a drag racer flying off a skyscraper fast and furiously, or watching a band of rebels fight off a galactic empire in a war among the stars. These movies offer an escape, a way to transport oneself away from our world into a fictional one of adventure, romanticism, and happy endings. However, while films can provide windows to peer away from our lives, they also can act as mirrors, giving us the rare opportunity to look inward at ourselves and our society. They can reimagine our history and show us the human stories that textbooks fail to convey. They can give us frightening dystopian worlds that might give us pause and allow us to reflect on our own. They can teach us empathy, love, and compassion.
Yet, how do we properly judge this art form? Movies have such an effect on our lives, often in ways we can’t even express. But that doesn’t mean they are all worth watching, that they will all provide you that essential mirror or window experience. So, what makes something a “great” movie, a bonafide classic? What is the relationship between rewatchability and success? We also wanted to try to get a better grip on movie commentary. How can we utilize discussion about film, much like Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel did, to better distinguish the greatness of each piece?
Throughout the past few months, our senior project has allowed us to critique how we view, consume, and think about movies, and allowed us to better experience them. And to be a better movie watcher/critiquer, is to be a better friend to go out to the movies with, to be able to pick out the best movies for your family, to be able to help your date understand an aspect of the movie they don’t get. The culmination of this project is as simple as our initial goal. After all the movie watching, discussing, and arguing, we want to provide the Fieldston community with a set of films to help get them through these rough times. Whether they are an escape to another world, or a glimpse into our own– we hope you enjoy them as much as we did.
We’re so thankful for the opportunity to do the project, and for Robert Montera for his guidance, as this was an extremely self-enriching experience.
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Will’s Recommendations:
Lord of the Rings Trilogy
When Gabe first watched the movies and we were discussing, I was nervous he wouldn’t feel that same magic. But when we started talking about Sir Ian Mckellen’s calm yet powerful performance and the simple yet eternal story of good versus evil, my fears melted away. I’ve been watching the Lord of the Rings Trilogy every year since probably around 2006. And it’s one of those movies that I will continue to watch every year to come. Why? Because I think its message is eternally endearing: hope. When watching the Fellowship of the Ring, you are instantly transported into an entirely new world through a questionable method, pure exposition. I would usually criticize a movie for starting with such an immediate and obvious dump of information, but here it is told with such mystery, energy, and action that you are sucked into the story by the first minute. And the world we are introduced to is both beautiful but also endangered. With Bilbo’s departure at the start of the trilogy, we are instilled with a feeling that what we are watching is the end of an era. And in this way, I think Lord of the Rings is perfect for quarantine. We have all lost something important to us in this time. And in many ways, the world will never be the same after COVID-19. But Lord of the Rings reminds me: even against this seemingly omnipotent, dominant, and scary force, we must still have hope.
Citizen Kane
This is one of those movies that often appears at the top of those vague “100 Best Movies of All Time” lists. This is for good reasons, it was incredibly innovative in the field of cinematography, lighting, and its blending of Hollywood’s previously rigid dramas– it’s a mystery, tragedy, romance, drama, and character study all at once. It’s also a movie that you cannot watch without a friend to talk about it with after. Gabe and I found separate ways to watch this movie. In one lense, it is a poignant introspective on the deception lying inside the American Dream, following Kane’s rise from the working class to a rich, political aspirant. However, it is also incredibly interesting to observe it as analysis of manhood. How much do the things we create, the speeches we design, the wealth we accumulate, and the loves we acquire make us who we are? This question continues to both inspire and haunt us to this day, and is why we must continue watching this masterpiece.
Dr. Strangelove (or How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb)
The plot of this absurd comedy sounds all too real in today’s world. Petty, egocentric, jingoistic world leaders bicker and argue while the end of the world draws nearer and nearer. Beyond, or perhaps intertwined with this timeless political commentary, lies director Stanley Kubrick’s one and only comedy film. And boy is it funny. From a German Scientist with moments of lingering Nazism, a war obsessed general with a childish feud with a Russian diplomat, to the original “hydrohomie” and conspiracy theorist who is hell bent on destroying humanity– this movie satirizes war, death, and sex in a way that no other film has ever done. It is the utterly plausible, comical end of the world.
The Tale of Princess Kaguya
Normally, I am not one for remakes. But this beautifully animated version of the classic 16th century tale, “The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter” is one of the finest films the esteemed animation studio, Studio Ghibli, ever produced. After watching the movie, Gabe and I couldn’t even discuss anything but the visuals for hours– each frame is a pristine, watercolor painting, full of bright color, flowing natural sets, and overflowing love. The lively, rolling landscapes are aided by an equally refreshing and stirring soundtrack. The plot, for the most part, takes the structure of a basic fairy tale. And yet the message itself is so much deeper. It is a movie about the precariousness of a parent wanting happiness for their child only to end up hurting them, about a rigid and traditional society holding down a free spirit, about the cycle of life and death, and about the importance of fantasies and dreams within the overbearingness of reality. It is the kind of movie where no written description or review can do it justice: watch it.
Gabe’s Recommendations:
The Platform
The Platform is one of those movies that makes you think. It makes you question things you thought you didn’t need to question. Is my society evil? Would I resort to cannibalism if starved for long enough? Yes, these types of questions. The concept of The Platform is undeniably clever. The film takes place in a sort of prison called The Hole, where there are hundreds of floors, all of which have a large hole in the middle where a platform with food descends everyday, once a day. There are 2 prisoners per floor. Those on floor 1 feast like kings and queens. If everyone ate only what they needed, the food would reach the bottom floor. It never does. The Platform is a horror/thriller movie, with lots of gore and violence; this movie isn’t for the weak-stomached. Even if you don’t think this movie is your usual cup of tea, don’t throw it away just yet. Like many films out of Spain, such as the extremely popular Money Heist and Elite, this movie is a GEM. Societally-commentative, intelligent, clever, grisly, horrific, eye-opening, are all adjectives I would use to describe The Platform.
Hitch
Hitch is hilarious. Hitch is romantic. Hitch is intelligent. Will and I loved Will Smith, Eva Mendes, and Kevin James in this movie. The movie drew us in and made us completely invested in their characters. From the viewer’s perspective, we see how all of the characters’ stories were intertwined, yet the characters are oblivious to it. Will Smith, a suave relationship coach, is teaching Kevin James how to get the girl of his dreams. While Will Smith tries his hand in swooning Eva Mendes, she, a gossip columnist, tries to get the scoop on how Kevin and his way-out-of-his-league dream girl came to be. This makes for a fun, lovely, exciting romantic comedy that will keep you entranced in its story for the entire 118 minutes. Definitely worth the watch.
The Matrix
It’s safe to say that everyone has at least heard of this movie and all the praise it has received. To most of our parents, this movie is an essential classic, and according to my mom, there are even college classes that discuss this movie. This movie is mind-boggling, as the movie’s protagonist, the extremely successful actor Keanu Reeves, has his reality turned upside down and inside out. He, like everyone else, believes he’s living in 1999, but Laurence Fishburne shows him that it’s really closer to 2199, and that he has been chosen to play an important role against the controllers of his false reality. This movie plays with the question “What is reality?” and by the end of the movie, I bet you’ll be asking yourself the same thing. Even though The Matrix was made in 1999, it is technologically stunning. It is violent, it’s packed full of action, and extremely entertaining. Everyone should watch this movie at least once.
