I’ve been holding off on posting about this one because I wasn’t exactly sure what I thought about it. A Clockwork Orange features Alex, a Beethoven fan-boy teen gang leader who wreaks havoc on his dystopian English town. When a night of mischief goes too far and Alex accidentally (or maybe not) kills a woman with her phallic statue, Alex finds himself in prison. In the penitentiary, Alex hears about a procedure that would “cure” him of his evil deeds, a procedure which would allow him to leave a free man…

On the one hand, this film is horribly grotesque, and I am way too Middle America for the violent imagery. However, the film also gives an interesting insight into teen gang violence, and how society reacts to wayward citizens (which is, admittedly, protracted in the dystopian setting). The strange thing is that despite my hatred of Alex and his band of “droogs,” I can’t help but feel a strange sympathy for him at certain moments of the film. What I thought particularly interesting as well was the prison chaplain character. Religious figures in secular films are often depicted as evil, hypocritical, or deluded; in A Clockwork Orange, however, the chaplain holds to the belief that men should have and harness the power of free choice. I could appreciate that deviation from cinema’s cliche character sketches, and it was one of the saving points of this bizarre film.

An aside: I also meant to post tonight on The Godfather, but 10 minutes before the ending, the VHS I rented from the university library gave out. Not to fear: the movie is mainstream enough for a friend to own it, so I will eventually be able to follow up on that film. Sometime this weekend I will also be posting on The Philadelphia Story, so stay tuned.

2001: A Space Odyssey is the second Stanley Kubrick film I’ve ever seen, preceded only by Dr Strangelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. The film jumps from prehistoric apes to corporate space travel to a sentient computer bent on passive aggressive survival tactics. As an adolescent of the turn of the millennium, my attention span was far too short to pay attention to this film in its entirety, because each movement takes about five minutes to complete. However, there are some intriguing and mysterious points to 2001, such as the jump cut from an ape’s bone spinning in the air to a floating space ship of similar shape, inferring something deep and timeless about human nature despite evolution. What made the greatest impression on me was how quiet this movie was (hence, the above type treatment). Even in the face of danger or mystery or the backdrop of classical music, there is a definite quietness to this film that renders it a bit sinister and uncomfortable.

In terms of cinematic excellence, I was a bit of a sheltered child. While my friends were watching films of “substance,” which were probably a bit too mature for them, I was watching “family friendly” movies (think Airbud). Having never gotten around to seeing must-see or classic films, I decided to undertake viewing all of the 2007 AFI Top 100 Movies. I’ve been chipping away at the list slowly, but I’ve just now started to draw a wordmark—for lack of a better term—for each movie I view.

Recently I rented Tootsie from the university library, which happens to own the vast majority of the Top 100 list. It follows a very similar plot line to Mrs. Doubtfire, and the fact that I have prior knowledge of the latter should be an indicator of just how bad my film history is. I have to say I enjoyed this much more; there is a sincerity in Dustin Hoffman’s portrayal of Michael Dorsey as Dorothy Michaels. At #62 on the list, this is one of the more humorous films and one that I’d probably watch again.