The Dartmouth Film Society continues its tradition of bringing diverse and quality cinema to Dartmouth with this term's film series, "The Postmoderns."
The postmodern view, which ties each of the films together, consists of looking back on the past, whether it be cultural icons or actual history, and presenting this topic with an updated modern twist.
Film Society director Michael Ellenberg '97 says the series "looks at films that break down traditional narrative forms." He added that many of these films tend to have "an emphasis on style over substance."
The series carries this theme of re-inventing traditional subjects and styles through mainstream hits, classics and the relatively obscure.
Last year's box-office hit "William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet" started the series off last night. What would be considered the film's postmodern view comes from transplanting Shakespeare's jilted Elizabethan lovers to the modern day where swords are replaced with guns and the Victorian dialogue is merged with kinetic, MTV-style camera work.
Mixed reviews may have kept you from going out of your way to see Jane Campion's ("The Piano") adaptation of Henry James' "The Portrait of a Lady," but tonight is your chance to check out this costume drama starring the surprisingly intense Nicole Kidman and the always intense John Malkovich.
Kidman plays Isabel Archer, a naive American who gets wrapped up in a seductive, wealthy European lifestyle. Ellenberg describes the film as "a 1990s feminist take on the 18th century."
Ellenberg feels that this Friday's showing of last winter's surprise hit "Scream" best exemplifies what the series is all about. Director Wes Craven finds innovative new uses for the well known horror cliches which helped create traditional horror movies such as his "A Nightmare on Elm Street."
Craven manages to "wink and nod through the whole film," by mocking the standard horror movie tricks which the public has become accustomed to but at the same time he uses these tricks and "still delivers the goods."
Don't be late, the first five minutes of "Scream" constitute one of the most successfully executed horror scenes in recent memory.
Later in the series, the 1950's rock and roll musical is filtered through the often disgusting, yet hilarious mind of cult director John Waters in "Cry-Baby," starring Johnny Depp and a pre-diet Ricki Lake.
Fresh off its theatrical run, Tim Burton's goofy send-up of 1950s B movies, "Mars Attacks!" will be shown on April 16. The all-star cast consists of everyone from Jack Nicholson to Tom Jones, but it's the vicious little green men that steal the show.
Whether one loves it or hates it, Oliver Stone's "Natural Born Killers" is back on the big screen.
One may not understand exactly what Stone is trying to say with his visceral assault of violence and mayhem, but it is as hard to look away from as it is to watch.
Make sure to catch this hit on the big screen where it plays like inspired cinema as opposed to an extended Nine Inch Nails video.
The art of a film such as "Natural Born Killers" often becomes trapped in the frame of a telvesion set and mistaken for something else.
Terry Gilliam ("12 Monkeys") moved from being a member of Monty Python to a true film artist with his visual feast "Brazil." Starring Jonathyn Price in a technology controlled, "1984"-esque world where happiness can only be found through insanity.
Not to be missed on May 7 is Akira Kirosawa's classic "Rashomon," which forever changed the way a film could be structured. The idea of using different perspectives in the same film was first mastered here and has been imitated ever since.
Following "Rashomon" will be one of its many descendants, cult hit "The Usual Suspects." Ellenberg says of the postmodern, "nothing on screen can be taken at face value." This is certainly true for these two films.
Woody Allen's old-fashioned musical "Everyone Says I Love You," a critical favorite last year that was difficult to find anywhere in the Upper Valley, takes to the screen on May 18.
Ellenberg claims that many believe the postmodern era is coming to an end. He says that now "is a good time to take a look at the tools that artists took from postmodernism."
All films play in Spalding Auditorium, and tickets are $5 at the door. Series passes are $10 with student ID, $15 for the general public.
