This quarter the Dartmouth Film Society presents a wide array of cineamatic blockbusters and arthouse winners under the aegis of "Cinema Cool."
With "Cinema Cool," DFS attempts to provide students with a cinematic definition of what "cool" is while questioning how much we define our "coolness" from the movies we see.
The film series, developed by DFS members Michael Ellenberg '97, Sarah Johnston '97 and Christopher Kelly '96, is composed of the usual mix of new-age flicks and veritable classics.
This summer's line-up is quite impressive, beginning with the bad-boy classic, "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid." The movie stars Paul Newman and Robert Redford as two gun-toting bank robbers whose adventurous personalities lead them to one perilous adventure after another while on the lam.
Other gems from the DFS line-up include "Broken Arrow," an action-adventure thriller featuring John Travolta and Christian Slater.
Directed by John Woo, the film makes use of people's fear of nuclear destruction as it describes the theft of nuclear weapons by mad-man Travolta and his latter actions as he tries to detonate them.
"Toy Story," is an animation tour-de-force, featuring the voices of two time Academy-Award winner Tom Hanks and Tim Allen of "Home Improvement" fame.
Classics such as "The Maltese Falcon" and "La Dolce Vita" will also be shown this term, introducing students to the "cool" Sam Spade as he searches for the enigmatic maltese falcon and the "coolness" of being in love in Federico Fellini's Italian masterpiece.
"Cinema Cool's" line-up will also make use of several double features and even one four film biker marathon featuring: "The Wild One," "Scorpio Rising," "Rumble Fish" and "The Loveless."
While "Cinema Cool" plays in Spaulding Auditorium, the Loew theater will feature an intriguing slice of documentaries, including many which have played at such film festivals as Cannes, Telluride and Sundance.
Begining the Loew series includes the much-touted documentary "The Celluloid Closet" which chronicles the use and themes of homosexuality in the cinema.
Later in the term, "Anne Frank Remembered" is a stunning depiction of Anne Frank which makes use of archival footage, photographs and is punctuated throughout by interviews with survivors.
The last film in the series, "Sex, Drugs, and Democracy," will raise questions about such burning issues such as euthasia, legalization of marijuana and abortion. A U.S. filmaker brings viewers to Holland to show how these contested issues are handled in another country and some of the values behind U.S. laws.
Camp, classics, and craziness all come together this term to provide Dartmouth viewers with a view of how to attain that elusive state of "cool."
