When I first decided to sit down and watch The Graduate, I expected a coming of age story that we could both probably relate to in a few years. What I did not expect was a twisted comedy that left us cringing as this young man inadvertently drags himself into chaos.
The premise of the film is simple: Benjamin Braddock just graduated from college and he doesn’t know what to do with his life. The first scene does an excellent job of his forced smile and barely concealed nervousness as he accepts compliment after compliment at his graduation party. But (without spoiling anything) after about 15 minutes, things start to get a lot more complicated. And things only get worse from there for Benjamin.
One of my favorite things about the movie was the tone. It does an excellent job of balancing the seriousness of the situation with the inherent comedy of it. In a way, it reminds me of the Ridley Scott film The Martian. In the sci-fi drama, a man is stuck on Mars while he’s waiting for NASA to come up with a rescue mission to save him. He copes with the crippling fear and loneliness with humor, and the piece plays off the comedy and drama really well. Although The Graduate and The Martian are two vastly different films, I feel they were both able to handle this concept very well.
Another thing I loved about The Graduate was its consistency in theme. Sometimes, movies try to take on too many messages and it can get confusing to the audience. This film, however, consistently came back to Benjamin’s helplessness and the feeling that the word was pushing him to the breaking point. There’s an awesome scene where Benjamin is swimming in a pool and he tries to break through the surface. His father and mother are waiting for him and push him back under the water. That simple sequence encompasses what the entire movie is trying to accomplish, and there are so many other details throughout that really bring it together.
The only thing I didn’t like about the film was how … uncomfy it made me. Don’t get me wrong, I understand why they had to make certain sequences so uncomfortable or cringey. But that doesn’t mean I enjoyed watching them. So it’s not really a complaint about the movie, more a complaint that I literally winced a few times at the awkwardness of it all.
Overall, I really enjoyed The Graduate. It was different from any other movie I’d seen before and made me think about what it will be like when I graduate from college in a few years. Hopefully, when I do, I’ll make significantly better decisions than Benjamin Braddock.
Be First to Comment