You are a film professor...
Which movie (and why) do you screen for your class?
shareCORKY ROMANO...WHY NOT?
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MovieChat Forums > General Discussion > You are a film professor...
It's a broad question as I would choose according to what I would want to teach/talk about.
"Subtext: The art of getting the point across without saying or showing it" - I would choose older films, Shane (1953) and/or Waterloo Bridge" (1940). Films where things are happening that they couldn't show or talk about but somehow they make sure you know anyway. I think that quality is sorely missing from films today.
Yes, I ask very loosely because I want to learn from different sources/points of view/reasoning-logic... thank you.
shareI'm thinking that if I understand film well enough to teach a course on it that I'd likely have a much different view on what is worthwhile. But that aside I'd start with To Kill a Mockingbird. It's just such a great film. It's one of the few films I don't find fault in on some level.
shareFor years I've heard a lot this movie, I have read the story about the trial etc...
Will probably watch it this weekend, thank you.
My favorite book of all time. When I was in high school I was a terrible student and never read any of my assignments except for To Kill a Mockingbird. That is the one book I connected with.
shareGreat book, one of the few that I read because I was told to...Moby Dick was an utter bore and so were a lot of other Literature classics the teachers assigned:/
I think there would have to be a class on "Screen Presence" as well, actors who just own the screen even if it is an early role and they are in the background they are just looming there taking over.
Jimmy Stewart
James Cagney
Clint Eastwood
To name a few. Again something that is missing in today's films where actors are pretty much interchangeable.
Interesting take, thank you.
shareThe Shawshank Redemption. It seems like very accessible for people, it's well acted and well written. I can't say there's much wrong with it other than the lack of female characters for the female students to relate to.
shareI think the scene with the woman in the grocery store is interesting. The way she talks down to a man much older than her about a menial task like double bagging groceries.
shareI love that scene. I loved that they addressed that he was in jail for so long that he couldn't do something simple like that.
shareI always felt it was inhumane to release him really. The world had changed so much from when he was first sentenced and he was never going to stand a chance. Being called a "boy" at that age too would have been too much to bare given everything else he was dealing with.
Getting back to your original post though, I guess if they made that film now they would either make it a women's prison or include a sympathetic female character like a nurse/lawyer/counselor etc. It would be a shame because the story itself is about men and how they deal with things, how power can corrupt some and the male spirit in general.
Completely depends on the class. Intro to Film Appreciation is different from a more advanced class with a narrower focus. Intro classes typically focus on American films with a strong critical consensus with perhaps a smattering of foreign fare.
Then there are the upper level classes with more specific criteria. I'll use something like women filmmakers as an example. Some of the titles I curated for that course include:
American Psycho
Point Break
Me and You and Everyone We Know
Fish Tank
Vagabond
Wayne's World
Fast Times at Ridgemont High
Monster
Salaam Bombay
CB4
A League of Their Own
Laurel Canyon
Titus
A New Leaf
Ratcatcher
Blood Diner
Thirteen
Girlfight
Green Street Hooligans
Private Parts
Daisies
Here's a list of essay prompts I dug up for American Psycho. This site renders line breaks and text in a goofy way, to there just might be some weird typos if you happen to view this:
https://docdro.id/J6H2vAt
I am assuming that I am teaching aspiring directors/film makers...since odds are that none of my students will be Kubrick, I would take the opposite approach.
I would pick 2 or 3 MST3K movies, that best show the class what NOT to do.
I would highlight common errors of judgement, lighting, camera angle, dialogue etc. Mistakes made in editing, sound, continuity and plot focus.
It can be more practical not to aspire to be great, but to just make sure your efforts don't make you look like a idiot.
Conan The Barbarian (82) is a clinic of great movie making
For writers, producers and directors it introduces the idea of a very generous budget and large risk garnering big rewards at the box office if done well ($20m budget vs. $67m gross worldwide)
For the actors involved it shows that putting it all on the stage, no matter how silly it may have come off, could equal greatness on film...and it certainly did.
For SFX and lighting people it's a time capsule of what could be possible nearly 40 years ago, and it looked great!
CGI still looks like crap half the time even now, gigantic rubber snakes are still more convincing
That music by Basil Pouldouris beats most film music by a mile
Conan '82 contained fine scenes of adventure, comedy, romance and horror...it was the ultimate movie that film students should study
You're joking, right?
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Not in the least
It's a great example of an excellent movie and film students should take notes while watching it
Forget the swashbuckling for a second and just focus on the relationships in the film...there's a doomed romance, a best Pal that's going his own way soon (you can see it in Subotai's eyes that he's leaving soon) and the whole revenge against the father figure angle...at one point Conan gets crucified and his death and rebirth are just more perfect moments to think on
Great storytelling with a whole lot of insanity to sift through!