(1973, Dir. James Bridges)
In Short: A Harvard student struggles through his first year of law school. I better not watch this movie again for the next ten or so years because if I do I'll feel the same as I did watching it this time: I never want to go to law school. I did like this movie, though, and I liked it a lot more than I thought I would. It certainly had its ups and downs, but overall it was a worthwhile watch. The Paper Chase really, really wants to be The Graduate, and don't we all? The Graduate is great. But The Graduate is The Graduate and The Paper Chase....isn't. I think a lot of energy was wasted on trying to emulate Benjamin Braddock's story when Hart's story is a completely different animal. Hart is passionate and he's not entirely selfish and that makes him the complete opposite of Benjamin. The stories can't read the same way. Yes, they're both about men in their early twenties. That's about it. The Paper Chase could have benefited from creating an identity more its own. That's my main issue with the movie. When I realized it wasn't really about the relationship between Susan and Hart, I was a little more okay with the underdeveloped nature of said relationship, though it still bugged me. I liked the study group dynamic (even though certain members angered me beyond rationality) and the tension of the classroom was captured really, really well. It felt Hart's Big Moment with Kingsfield towards the end feel really earned. I really liked some of the camerawork in this film. One scene that especially stands out is the one pictured above. Susan and Hart are having a serious, intimate conversation and yet the camera holds that extreme long shot of them for the whole conversation. It adds a weird coldness and distance to the scene that I thought was really interesting. ~SPOILERS~ The ending is what really hit it home for me. I might not have liked the whole movie if it weren't for the ending. If Kingsfield had said something like, "I've learned as much from you as you have from me" or some nonsense like that, I would have been really grumpy about it. What a waste! But the effect of "What's your name?" was perfection. And even though I knew that Hart was going to throw his grades into the ocean the minute Susan handed them to him, I still enjoyed that. Again, it felt earned. It drove the point home. ~END SPOILERS~ I liked The Paper Chase! Young Edward Herrmann was there! It's a good companion to Legally Blonde, I guess! That's all. Good stuff.
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AuthorEileen here, writing reviews for film class. Archives
April 2018
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