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| Trinity Films, University of Cambridge |
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What's playing:
Trinity Films will be showing two movies in the upcoming week. On Sunday May 11, we screen John Carpenter's The Thing. On Monday May 12, we show the insane anime feature Ninja Scroll.
Screening times and locations:
Unless otherwise noted, all screenings are open to the public and will take place in the Winstanley Lecture Theatre at 9 p.m. All movies are FREE during Easter Term--consider it a brief respite for your study-addled minds. And try not to get a Third, okay?
Shameless self-promotion:
In case you didn't read the preceeding section, all Trinity Films screenings are FREE for Easter Term. When your eyes can no longer focus on a passage and 2+2 doesn not equal 4, you probably ought to take a breather. Thankfully, we at Trinity Films have provided a viewer-friendly schedule to let off some study-related stress.
If you have any suggestions for future term screenings or special events, feel free to contact Trinity Films at our next screening. Oh wait, you'll be too busy preparing for exams. Well, nevermind.
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Easter Term
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| Trinity Films Term Card: |
Sunday April 27
Monday April 28
Sunday May 4
Monday May 5
Sunday May 11
Monday May 12
Sunday May 18
Monday May 19
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We kick things off with Mike Nichols' The Graduate (1967), a film that caused a generation to look back at the hypocrisy of their parents and to reject the vapid consumerism that that older generation represented. The kids, of course, turned to drugs and wanton sex, which in turn caused their children to become straight-laced and to embrace the Reagan-Thatcher revolution of the early eighties. Don't you love progress? Featuring a young Dustin Hoffman unspoiled by decades of Hollywood fast living (and if you look quickly enough, a young Richard Dryfuss without the years of coke addiction.)
And then there's Kim Tae-gyun's Volcano High (2001), which is nothing short of a live-action manga with style and attitude in spades. What that sixth form were this cool; of course, we'd probably be dead by now on account of all the internal injuries we would have sustained... on the first day. But then there would’ve been an all-girls Kendo team, which would make everything all right. That is, before the Rugby Club caught wind of us and got Dragon Ball Z on our asses.
We follow that up with Deepa Mehta's Bollywood Hollywood (2002)--infectious, bubbly, and charming but not cloyingly so. We think Asians might have hit upon the secret to capital entertainment--chiseled stars, gorgeous starlets, three-hour epics with a dozen dance numbers, and loads of good-natured fun. Although Bollywood doesn't reach the inspired heights of authentic Bombay (now Mumbai) fare, we nonetheless are thankful for a Deepa Mehta film that isn't too dark or dour. And that features euphoric song and dance numbers with Rahul Khanna and Lisa Ray.
Lest we forget what cinema's all about--moving pictures in some sort of action(!) painting--we offer Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch (1969) for your inspection. With enough testosterone and machismo swagger to kill a herd of buffalo, see the film from which all future action pictures have been judged. And for which slow motion was invented: so that you could better appreciate the splatter of blood and brains from machine gun fire. Mythology and mayhem on the big screen with enough punch to still knock audiences down today. Simply stunning.
Speaking of which, when was the last time you caught a John Carpenter film? Back in the days of eighties excess, finger firmly planted on the pulse of the subconscious, Carpenter reinvented the horror picture for modern audiences. The Thing (1982), which probably stands as the director's most fully realized film, shows the power of a compact plot coupled with solid acting by a good veteran cast. And the potency of pre-CGI visual effects. Indeed, the creature effects (created by Rob Bottin) still remain nightmare-inducing stuff and have lost none of their ability to illicit gasps of fear-cum-revulsion. Come for the paranoia and unrelenting terror but not after having eaten a full dinner. You can’t say that we haven’t warned you.
And that's just a warm up to Yoshiaki Kawajiri’s Ninja Scroll (1993). You want tentacles (cringe)--oh wait, that was the director’s Wicked City. You want oh-my-God-did-I-just-see-that ultraviolence? Check. You want morally wrong juxtapositions of sex and violence. Check. You want proof that studying too hard makes you go gonzo? Check. Lest we forget: extreme anime, Japan’s no. 1 export before the days of Playstation 2, was the entertainment option of choice by cram-driven Nipponese sixth formers busting their brains so that they can land a good spot in Uni. Stuff like this and the notorious Overfiend series are here to burn a hole in your head--as it were--to get rid of all the study-related stress of examination hell (and those damn voices, which won’t shut up!)
We then move over to Brian De Palma's Femme Fatale (2002), satisfying your government-suggested daily serving of pure unadulterated cinematic trash. How can you not admire a filmmaker who is committed to showing the world his obsessions and fetishes in such a relentless albeit convoluted manner? It's as if someone had spliced the genes of Russ Meyer and Luis Bunel and gave the resulting test-tube filmmaker lots of cash, Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, and uttered, "just shoot something, dammit." That too takes vision of a sorts and makes for a lot of wicked viewing fun.
We close out term with Milos Forman's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest(1975), perhaps the director's finest film and the one that swept the top five Oscars from its year: Best Picture, Director, Screenplay, Actor, and Actress. Jack Nicholson's never been better in a vehicle that actually has something to say. Of course, what do you expect when you throw together a movie and the mentally ill and the resiliance of the human spirit? Well, you could end of with a film by Crispin Glover but that being said, Cuckoo's Nest is a brilliant movie from a time when cinematic gems were the norm and whose quiet grace still pays dividends for those willing to seek out such thoughtful fare.
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The Graduate
Volcano High
Bollywood Hollywood
The Wild Bunch
The Thing
Ninja Scroll
Femme Fatale
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
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