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Posted Jan. 14, 2015

Top 10 Films to See Before You Leave University

The Graduate The definitive ‘existential void after graduation’ film. Although from a British perspective I can’t understand how anyone who owns a swimming pool could possibly suffer from a state of existential ennui, this film still manages to perfectly capture the blind terror faced by all of us after graduating as Dustin Hoffman enters into a naive affair with a friend of his parents after returning home from college.

B oyhood Richard Linklater’s stunning film, hotly tipped for the 2015 Oscars, should come with a warning for students watching: will trigger unbearable nostalgia for your childhood. Innovatively filmed over 12 years to show lead actor Ellar Coltrane ageing in real time from 5 to his first day at university, Linklater has managed to perfectly capture how those of us who grew up in the new millennium experienced the world.

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring As we discussed in an earlier blog , university is the perfect time to destroy your childhood with alcohol-laced versions of cultural favourites. Of these, drinking every time you hear the word ‘ring’ in the first LOTR (that’s two ‘rings’ in the title alone…) might be the most self-destructive. In fact, only the hardiest of drinkers will be able to get past the first five minutes and its ‘one ring to rule them all, one ring to bind them’ alcohol bloodbath.

Brazil Ever had to face the nightmarishly incept eighth circle of hell that is the average university administration department? Then you’ll find plenty to sympathise with in Monty Python member Terry Gilliam’s off-kilter sci-fi classic. Centring on an office clerk trying to escape the nightmarish and potentially murderous office world he lives him, it also features Robert De Niro as a vigilante plumber because of course it does. A film you’ll remember every time the admin department mucks up your timetable again.

Animal House The film that inspired a million terrible uni rugby players in the UK that wearing your bed sheets and acting like a complete idiot made for a desirable evening. Sadly, none of them have the ‘adorable even when vomiting in your shoe’ charisma displayed by John Belushi in this campus anti-authority classic. Although this film is responsible for some of the worst atrocities committed to film by showing there was a market for anarchic teen sex comedies, please don’t hold this against this stellar original.

Barton Fink Next time you find yourself staring at an empty white rectangle on your laptop where your thesis should be, give this early Coen Brothers film a watch. Focusing on a screenwriter whose mind is slowly unravelling as he experiences major writer’s block in a dark caricature of ‘40s Hollywood, it will at the very least make you feel better about your own slow working pace. Plus, how can you not watch a film where John Goodman plays a character who may or may not be the devil?

The Social Network Need a productivity boost? Watch this tale of how Mark Zuckerberg managed to invent Facebook during his undergraduate years and feel bad about how you waste your time eating Domino’s and pretending reading this blog is research for your thesis. Or, if you need to feel better about wasting your time eating Domino’s and avoiding your thesis? Watch this tale about how success and productivity turns students into horrid people. However you see the message of this film it really is worth a watch that will almost make you believe Justin Timberlake is credible as an actor. Almost.

A Grin Without a Cat On first sight, a four hour documentary in French about New Left politics by an avant grade film director might not exactly seem like relaxed student viewing. However, ‘A Grin without a Cat’ offers perhaps the definitive exploration of Paris in 1968, A.K.A. the time that students were a genuine political force to be reckoned with rather than just placidly accepting being persistently messedaround by successive governments. At the very least this film will persuade you to be a more active student.

Good Will Hunting Rather than watching this film for its inspirational story of an M.I.T. janitor/unrecognized genius mentored by a never-better Robin Williams, this film is best watched with a group of fellow students so you can really tear to shreds what a ridiculous look into university life this film offers. And what says student fun more than highlighting the flaws in a beloved cultural artefact?

A Single Man We all have that one lecturer who seems to us a mystery wrapped in an enigma wrapped in a slightly-past-its-best suit, and who we endless deconstruct the tragic history of with our classmates. One such figure (played by Colin Firth) is the focus of this film from fashion designer Tom Ford. Based on Christopher Isherwood’s brilliant novella, it features great performances from both Firth and Julianne Moore and his highly-strung best friend. Plus you get to see Nicholas Hoult’s bum, which is always nice.

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