Get Schooled by Education-Themed Films!
With the semester drawing to a close, why not take the opportunity to reflect on cinematic portrayals of education– from high school to grad school. On November 5, we’ll be screening Monsters University, a prequel to Pixar’s Monsters, Inc. in which Mike Wazokski (Billy Crystal) and Sully (John Goodman) meet as college students who encounter a difficult road towards becoming professional scarers. Later, on November 19, we’ll be showing high school movie classic Clueless. In this modern adaptation of Jane Austen’s Emma, the rich, shallow, yet friendly Cher (Alicia Silverstone) tries to become the teen matchmaker of Beverly Hills. And as always, please peruse our other DVDs and Blu-rays about education!
Farhan Qureshi (R. Madhavan) and Raju Rastogi (Sharman Joshi) want to re-unite with their fellow collegian, Rancho (Aamir Khan), after respectively faking a stroke abroad an airplane, and excusing himself from his wife, trouser-less. En route, they encounter another former classmate, Chatur Ramalingam (Omi Vadiya), now a successful businessman, who reminds them of a bet they made 10 years prior. The trio recollect their antics at Delhi’s Imperial College of Engineering and their run-ins with the dean, Viru “Virus” Sahastrabudhe (Boman Irani), as they search for Rancho. (2009, dir. Rajkumar Hirani, 171 minutes)
At the Ivy League college Winchester University, biracial student Samantha White (Tessa Thompson) comes to prominence as she launches a popular radio show called Dear White People and becomes president of an all-Black dormitory. Meanwhile, Sam’s ex-boyfriend (Brandon P. Bell) pushes back against her program; Coco (Teyonah Parris) and Lionel (Tyler James Williams) seek similar opportunities to share their experiences as Black students; and the son of the school’s president (Kyle Gallner) throws a provocative blackface party. (2014, dir. Justin Simien, 108 minutes)
The year is 1961: 16-year-old schoolgirl Jenny (Carey Mulligan) is dreaming of attending Oxford University and beginning adult life. One rainy day, she meets thirty-something David (Peter Sarsgaard). Urbane and witty, David instantly unseats Jenny’s schoolboy admirer (Matthew Beard) and charms her conservative parents (Alfred Molina and Cara Seymour) despite his age and Jewishness. Through David, Jenny receives a cultural education of classical concerts and dinner parties with his friends (Dominic Cooper and Rosamund Pike), but is lured away from her concerned teachers. Based on the memoir by Lynn Barber. (2009, dir. Lone Scherfig, 100 minutes)
The most popular girls at Westerburg High School are all named Heather: the powerful Heather Chandler (Kim Walker), the green-with-envy Heather Duke (Shannen Doherty), and the yellow-bellied Heather McNamara (Lisanne Falk). Rounding out their clique is Veronica Sawyer (Winona Ryder), who ditches her abusive friends to start running with J.D. (Christian Slater), the mysterious (and maybe disturbed) new kid. When a vengeful prank goes awry, Veronica’s teen angst rapidly develops a body count. (1988, dir. Michael Lehmann, 103 minutes)
Helen Keller (Patty Duke) is an Alabama girl who became blind and deaf as baby after a high fever. Enter Annie Sullivan (Anne Bancroft), a partially-blind woman assigned the task of teaching Helen sign language. After first separating Helen from her over-protective parents (Victor Jory and Inga Swenson), Annie begins the arduous process of teaching the girl. Based on the Broadway play by William Gibson and featuring its original cast (1962, dir. Arthur Penn, 106 minutes)
16-year old Napoleon Dynamite (Jon Heder) spends his days doodling mythical beasts, arguing with his brother Kip (Aaron Ruell), and avoiding his scheming Uncle Rico (Jon Gries). When two new friends enter Napoleon’s life– shy amateur photographer Deb (Tina Majorino) and Mexican transfer student Pedro (Efren Ramirez)– the trio launches a campaign to elect Pedro for class president and thereby make the student body’s wildest dreams come true. (2004, dir. Jared Hess, 95 minutes)
Expecting only the standard pressures of attending Harvard Law School, James T. Hart (Timothy Bottoms) finds himself the fearful adversary of the school’s most imperious, sarcastic professor (John Houseman). Their relationship grows even more complex when the young man discovers that the girl he’s in love with (Lindsay Wagner) is the professor’s daughter. Based on the novel by John Jay Osborn, Jr. (1973, dir. James Bridges, 111 minutes)
During her 25th high school class reunion, Peggy Sue (Kathleen Turner) tries to forget her marital problems with husband Charlie (Nicolas Cage). Peggy Sue questions whether she has made the correct decisions in life and is shocked when she is crowned the “reunion queen”. She faints and wakes up as a teenager in 1960. Now that she knows how the next 25 years will unfold if she marries Charlie, will she pursue a different life with a geeky future billionaire (Barry Miller) or a sensitive loner she never got to know (Kevin J. O’Connor)? (1986, dir. Francis Ford Coppola, 108 minutes)
Beca (Anna Kendrick) would rather produce sick beats than attend class, but her professorial dad prods her into enrolling at Barden University. There she joins an all-female a cappella troupe, the Bellas, whose members have little in common beyond a passion for singing. When Beca takes the Bellas out of their comfort zone of traditional arrangements and perfect harmonies into contemporary pop music mash-ups, she’ll have to contend with both internal resistance as well as their all-male a cappella rivals, the Barden Treblemakers. Inspired by the book by Mickey Rapkin. (2012, dir. Jason Moore, 112 minutes)
Harvard University sophomore Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) responds to getting dumped by his girlfriend (Rooney Mara) by creating a website that allows visitors to rate the attractiveness of female students. “Facemash” attracts the attention of fellow Harvard students Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss (Armie Hammer) and Divya Narendra (Max Minghella), but Zuckerberg instead seeks seed money from his friend Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield). As their social networking website expands beyond Harvard, Saverin and Zuckerberg look to Silicon Valley and meet Napster founder Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake), but become increasingly ensnared in external and internal lawsuits. Based on the book The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich. (2010, dir. David Fincher, 120 minutes)
Max Fischer (Jason Schwartzman) attends the 10th grade at Rushmore Academy. Max is a poor student but highly enthusiastic about extracurricular activities: he edits the yearbook, captains the fencing team, directs the school play, and more. He falls in love with Miss Cross (Olivia Williams), a 1st grade teacher at the academy; he also befriends Mr. Blume (Bill Murray), an eccentric millionaire who loves Miss Cross, too. Max refuses to believe Miss Cross won’t date him because of his age and schemes to build an aquarium atop the academy’s baseball field. Soon the young man will have to grow up and accept the consequences of his actions. (1998, dir. Wes Anderson, 93 minutes)
Andrew Neiman (Miles Teller) is an ambitious young jazz drummer at the Shaffer Conservatory who aspires to be great like Buddy Rich. Terence Fletcher (J.K. Simmons), an instructor equally known for his talents as for his abusive teaching methods, conducts the top jazz ensemble in the school. Andrew conspires to become the ensemble’s core drummer, yet his passion alienates his father (Paul Reiser) and girlfriend (Melissa Benoist). And Fletcher’s exacting demands take a physical and psychological toll on Andrew. (2014, dir. Damien Chazelle, 106 minutes)
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