Once there was a film that became a landmark in American cinema that sparked the future eruption of a new genre: the romantic comedy. Brilliantly directed, influentially made, and performances that echoes throughout the history of film, The Graduate is that fine gem in a king's crown, surely making Mike Nichols still smirking in pride until today.

It's a witty, stylish, and straightforward cinema-making, this one. If you have seen Nichols's latest Closer, then you would be no longer wondering how he managed Julia Roberts, Clive Owen, Natalie Portman and Jude Law give out the performances of their lives and utter as many swearwords as they can while holding their breaths. Here, with Dustin Hoffman, juvenile and charming, gives out a stunning performance as Ben Braddock, a recent graduate but a perfect epitome of human imbalance and imperfection. He's an absolute innocent-freak to the world, inexperienced and oftentimes desperate. On his graduating day, instead of smiling, he was looking morose in his room and struggle to pull out a grin while facing his visitors and relatives congratulating for his job-well-done. But as he started to question his own future, his own job, fate had thrown him into a situation that most people wouldn't want to encounter. An affair - with a married woman. Mrs Robinson, aged yet sexy, little-wrinkled but sultry, and wife of Ben's father's friend, had seduced him all plunging into a further ironic twist in life. There are a lot of satirical and funny scenes in The Graduate as Ben tries to shake off the idea that a married woman was seducing him, while his own body and mind was betraying him. He's one of those people that even though how many times they say "no", at the end of the day, "yes" would still be the answer. Their affair, a premature one, was indeed a funny thing to watch and you can't help but shaking your head in disbelief yet at the same time can't help to be entertained by the whole thing. However, the affair turns unexpectedly as Ben discovers that he's falling in love to Mrs Robinson's daughter, in Mrs Robinson's disgust.

Let us remember that this film kick-started Mike Nichols's directing career, as he won the Academy Award for Best Director here, and also Dustin Hoffman's career. It's just so amazing how they made this film, no-nonsense moviemaking, intelligent and crafty script, filled with dialogues that are often brutally truthful, blatant, sometimes embarassing to hear yet honest to the very core. Such a simple line from Ben's character when he asks, "Are you seducing me, Mrs Robinson?" and she replied in a soft purr, "Do I look like seducing you, Ben?", comes with a very intellectual premise that this film is such a curious study about a man's ineffectual certainty of his ego. Because even though Mrs Robinson wasn't really seducing Ben, it's still obvious that Ben wanted to be seduced, no matter how hard he fights the notion that he's got to face a clean and healthy life in the future. An paradigm of most people today, confused, utterably misjudged as well. Anne Bancroft as Mrs Robinson was an uber-fine actress here, and she made a wicked job of painting Mrs Robinson a brush of sensuality and sense. She looks like she's unintentionally manipulative, yet enjoying every minute of her adventures while forgetting the sadness of her life. One that really haunts society today that even the most perfect wedded couple, there are skeletons to be pulled out from the closet.

I love The Graduate for its honesty. This is a very good film, finely crafted and unforgettable. Judging from the ending itself, a very satisfying one, where Ben rushes to the cathedral to save his loved one from being wedded to somebody else and managed to escape out of there a bit unscathed, when the both of them sat at the back of the bus - both of them sniggered, smiled and then looked at each other seriously, as though their eyes were asking "Now what?". Yes, they would surely face everything ahead of them, and they're bound to as well.


Rating: A+