At film club, we nominate a weekly movie as a group, and club members watch it over the course of the week to discuss in the following club. When rating movies, we each give our individual rating out of 5, and then the scores are averaged to give us the club rating.
Credit: IMDB
Donnie Darko
Genre: Drama/Sci-Fi
Club rating: 3.6/5
This movie follows Donnie Darko, a troubled teenager who is told by a mysterious person in a rabbit costume that the world is going to end. As the movie continues, we follow Donnie through his psychological deterioration, as he is manipulated by this unknown figure. We found this movie convoluted, almost to an unnecessary extent, where the storyline was almost “confusing for the sake of being confusing.” However, the movie poses the interesting question of whether it should be considered to fit in the drama genre or science fiction genre. Overall, this movie is worth a watch!
Credit: Amazon
The Lighthouse
Genre: Psychological
Club rating: 2.9/5
The Lighthouse is the story of two men losing their sanity while isolated on an island in Maine. The movie follows the two characters’ slow descent into drunken madness and the mysterious chaos that ensues between the men. We discussed the movie’s deep messages that depict how greed and toxic masculinity can lead one down a dark path of insanity. Overall, this movie is fascinating and incredibly well-made, but some of the ideas presented are unclear and abstract. The Lighthouse leaves a lot for the audience to infer on their own.
Credit: IMDB
Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Genre: Romance
Club rating: 3.95/5
This movie follows two women, one the daughter of a wealthy family living on an isolated estate, the other a painter who is hired to stay at the estate to observe the other and paint her in secret. Portrait of a Lady on Fire follows their relationship and exploration of values and what they consider true freedom to mean. The cinematography and sound of this movie are beautiful, and our biggest takeaways were the messages of female independence and liberation. Overall, this movie is very moving and definitely worth a watch.
Credit: IMDB
Ex Machina
Genre: Sci-fi
Club rating: 4.2/5
This movie is centered around a computer programmer named Caleb, who learns he has been chosen to be the human component in a Turing test to determine the capabilities and consciousness of a robot named Ava. It soon becomes evident that Ava is far more self-aware and deceptive than anyone imagined. This movie brought up a fascinating club discussion about the future of technology and AI, and it is definitely worth watching!
The BHSECQ Film Club meets Thursday afternoons in room 720