Review of The Graduate (1967) by Callum B — 24 May 2012

The Graduate is one of those films that wouldn't succeed if every single thing in it wasn't pitch perfect. If you took out one element, it would fall on it's face. The film needs Hoffman's awkward performance as Benjamin just as much as it needs Mike Nichols' direction, filled with womb imagery and static moments. It needs Anne Bancroft's Mrs.Robinson, angrily trying to recapture her missed youth and squandered potential in sex and alcohol, as much as it needs Paul Simon's folk songs, throwing us into the poetic hopelessness of Benjamin's outlook.

The plot "A young boy is seduced by an older woman and then falls in love with her daughter" seems to promise salacious pornography and coming of age melodrama. Yet it doesn't really deliver on either of these things, taking us somewhere better. Some argue that this film is the beginning of the American New Wave (aka New Hollywood), the American answer to the French New Wave artistically firebombing the film-making establishment. Hints of the French New Wave's influence can be seen throughout. The film, like Godard's finest moments, doesn't really care too much about advancing the plot. Little moments, be they great images or dialogue are instead the focus. There's no need for us to see Benjamin dive into his pool in full scuba gear, no need for us to see the extended awkwardness he has around the hotel clerk but by leaving it in, we get a full picture of this world that's being show to us. This isn't a fast paced, high octane world for the blockbuster crowd (it was a decade before Lucas and Spielberg showed up and pissed all over New Hollywood's fire), this is a slow burning portrait of the ennui of late adolescence.

The film's first five minutes show just how influential it was. The opening scene, Benjamin on a plane looking ahead while an announcer blares over the tannoy put me in mind of Zach Braff's coming of age tale Garden State. The next sequence, Benjamin traversing the moving sidewalks of the airport while Paul Simon summons the sounds of silence, were copied by movie scrapbooker Quentin Tarantino in his much underrated Jackie Brown (although he changed the music). Within five minutes, this movie has put you in mind of other films, made by people so fond of this one that they saw it fit to pay their respects to it in their own way. As the film goes on, something really caught me - this film feels modern. The sense of humor, feels modern. This film has barely dated. The clothes and cars are outdated, but aside from that it feels as fresh as when Nichols' shot it. Hoffman's awkward and hilarious turn (particularly in the first scene at Mrs. Robinson's house) would be just at home in a better Micheal Cera comedy from the last few years. The tragic moment where Benjamin misses Mrs. Robinson's distress (as she divulges her major) could be from any of the current NBC Cringe Comedies.

The final five minutes, with Simon's joyous Mrs. Robinson on the soundtrack as Benjamin rushes to the church, then an onslaught of christian imagery as he eventually takes Elaine's hand and runs onto a passing bus.

The Graduate is a fantastic film. Both of it's time, and timeless. A perfect snapshot of it's time, yet a eternally true portrait of adolescence. A treatise on the generation gap (only the younger characters have first names, everyone else is Mr or Mrs) but yet also a criticism of youth. The film is hyped because it's brilliant, in every aspect. It succeeds perfectly, and is a complete joy to watch.