Day 022 || The Graduate

The Graduate, 1967

Dir. Mike Nichols

"Mrs. Robinson, you're trying to seduce me. Aren't you?"

The Graduate is one of those classic films that somehow managed to escape me in the twenty-three years I've been watching movies. It's a film that we can look back on and easily see how it's influenced other films from the the 1990's and onward. It's comedy, but not in the sense that most people are familiar with. It's more of a comedy in the style of Wes Anderson or Jared Hess (of whom is admittedly a lesser version of Anderson). It's dry and the jokes aren't found in situations or dialogues within the film. The joke is the film.

The film earns it's reputation as a classic due to how well all of the elements come together. The story, the characters and the soundtrack (performed entirely by Simon and Garfunkel) all work to make something very memorable and enjoyable, yet awkward and off-putting. The Graduate is a hard film to pin down tonally, again, much akin to an Anderson film.

The characters are very honest, and all of their intentions and actions are believable, something the audience can invest in, save for a few moments with Elaine's character (Katherine Ross). And having just graduated myself, it's very easy to feel the same emotions and emptiness that Ben Braddock (Dustin Hoffman) is currently going through. The pressure of being the center of attention for all his family and their social circle, and then having to deal with the weight of all their heavy expectations. It makes it easy for us to buy into his reluctant embrace of Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft). His awkward trepidation and hesitance comes across as very honest and it doesn't seem morally offensive or wrong when he does it. It seems innocent and shows his youthful naivety.

The ending alone, which I'm not going to spoil, is so perfectly handled under Mike Nichols' direction, it could easily be one of the highlights of the film for me. It's either the inspiration for the ending of Spider-Man 2, or Sam Raimi  unwittingly borrowed heavily from it. It keeps you completely rushed and engaged in the moment, leaving you rooting for an ending that when finally delivered, not only do the characters reflect on whether it was the wisest decision, but it leaves the audience introspective on the entire experience.

The Graduate is still, to this day, a film I would highly recommend and easily earns it's place as a classic film. It's largely a film of the 1960's and parts of it didn't age as well as I might have hoped, but it's nowhere near as dated as most. It's still relevant and the story is very apt even to this day. I highly recommend this film, if not for one of Dustin Hoffman's earlier performances, then for the exceptional storytelling on display.

4 out of 5