Cinema Club: An Education

Evening all.

We had another decent turn-out this afternoon for our society visit to the Arts Centre to see An Education, which seemed- on the whole- to be a hit with our members. Varsity was FULL AS, so we went to Bar Fusion (mostly. Where did you other guys go? Why?!).

Here’s my review of An Education. Remember, anyone who wants to contribute a review or article to this blog can do so! Just email it in to the society.

David

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An Education (dir. Lone Scherfig, 2009) ****

reviewed by David Sugarman

A couple of years ago, The History Boys took a wry look at college students in the 1980s and their attempts to get into Oxford. And starred Dominic Cooper. Now, An Education details the story of a young woman in the early ’60s as she prepares for her A-levels. And stars Dominic Cooper. Where The History Boys struggled was in providing full characterisation for all the boys, a problem that An Education sidesteps by focussing on a single protagonist, Jenny (Carey Mulligan).
Jenny is offered a ride home in the car of David (Peter Sarsgaard), a young, roguish – and Jewish, a fact exploited to great hilarity in several scenes- fellow with no discernible occupation and a great talent for smooth-talking. Caught up in the moment, Jenny falls for David’s romantic, seemingly exotic life. David’s friends, the slick Danny (Cooper) and his ditzy blonde girlfriend (Rosamund Pike) reinforce the contrast between the apparent freedom offered by David and the boredom suffered by her teachers and parents.
Mulligan and Sarsgaard give admirably restrained performances in roles that could have become rather melodramatic, and both give a sense of great maturity, even if beneath the surface the characters are anything but mature. I think I laughed at pretty much every joke in the film, and while it drifted to a somewhat predictable conclusion, I’m happy to forgive An Education that fault.

Democracy in Action, Or: Our Film Soc Goes to Coventry

Greetings all!

Well, last night was an eventful one. We took that bus! We got to Coventry! We missed the first two minutes of The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus! We couldn’t find a suitable pub! We took the bus back to campus! WE ARE DEMOCRACY.

In summary: despite a few hiccups, our first Cinema Club was, I hope you’ll agree, a success. The turnout from first years in particular was a pleasant surprise, so thank you to everyone who came! Hopefully in future we’ll iron out those little problems and ensure a fun-filled (and stress-free) evening for all.

When we returned to campus and the inexorable draw of The Dirty Duck, a vote was held to elect academic representatives for first and second years. We only had one contender for 2nd Year Rep., one Mr. John Ellis-Johnson; no complaints were aired regarding his appointment, and so we now welcome John onto the Executive body of the Warwick Film Studies Society. In the battle for 1st Year Rep., the two candidates were Ollie Coleman and Smudge MacIntosh. In a free and fair election, Ollie was selected by the good people of our society, and will also be joining the Exec.

The film itself, being the object of our excursion, was a mixed bag, I felt. While parts of it shone with the typical imaginative brilliance that writer/director Terry Gilliam has built his career on, other parts were marred by the typical incomprehensibility, silliness and poor dialogue that writer/director Terry Gilliam has so often allowed to creep into his works to their detriment. Overall a good film, though. Full review to come shortly, I believe.

Anyway, next week: Smack, the Royal Leamington Spa. That’ll be on Tuesday eve. Hope to see many of you there and then!

Yours,

David

(President)