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[Severin]

So, I decided, rightly or wrongly, that I felt the need to regale you all with my opinions and related thoughts on films. Hopefully a few of you may be interested, may make a new exciting discovery or decide I need to be educated in why I'm wrong. Either way it's up to you.
If no one cares this thread shall die the death it may deserve.



And so to begin with a rather unlikely choice that I just watched tonight.


The Breakfast Club

You might well wonder why a 43 year old bloke is watching a 'coming of age high school movie' and to be fair, it's a valid question. The answer is that in 1985 I was at exactly the age that this movie aims at, so for me it was very relevant and yet now I am the father of a 14 year old girl and so the film takes on a second layer of relevance.
Whilst it's been almost 30 years since I last watched it, and there's no way I'd call myself a John Hughes fan, I have to say I still think it's a brilliant movie. In 1985 I related most to Bender and Alison but what's really smart about the film is that it takes the typical teen stereotypes and pulls on multiple threads to blur the lines and highlight similarities beneath the facades.

Despite its (even at the time) dodgy soundtrack and definitively '80s stylings it manages to stay relevant, because at the films core is a study in how young individuals struggle to find and assert themselves in a world which they do yet have much control.

The acting throughout is of a high standard for such a young cast and Hughes' direction allows them space to be by turns both comic and profound.
The Breakfast Club is by no means a perfect film and it does have its flaws (Ally Sheedy's 'makeover' is a mistake, not just because it robs her character of her individuality but because she was clearly beautiful to begin with), yet it retains a charm and energy sorely lacking in much of today's output. The film made stars of all of the cast and although Judd Nelson stands out in particular, they all have a turn to show just how good they were.
Along with St. Elmo's Fire, this is the definitive 'Brat Pack' film.

Viewed either as an eye opener school age teenagers, a reminder for their parents or as a historical document of the mid 1980s it stands up remarkably well.

This post has been edited by Severin: 15th May 2016, 02:01 AM