Genuinely, that was one of the finest, most entertaining and playfully executed opening sequences I’ve ever had the privilege of attending. It’s so quippy and totally not politically correct for these modern days!
Mike Nichols really made a 106-minute movie premised on an introverted college graduate hesitant to bang his mom’s long-time friend while unexpectedly finding love on the flip-side. And, it somehow works wonders!
Nichols is quite proficient in altering shot-types from in-your-face hand-helds, to simplistic stills, or to POVs greeted with faultless audio mixing. The editing and cutting furthermore have no bounds to how universally cunning it can be. The innovative and richly diverse cinematography and visual composition caught my eye as well, including the suitably implemented soundtrack.
It did vastly bother me, although, how weirdly written Elaine’s obnoxiously incongruous character is. Oh well, rarely is a classic without its overlooked flaws.
Anyhow, I haven’t loved a coming-of-age drama this much in a fat-ass amount of time. Hell, this takes me back to my John Hughes binging days except, as if those movies were more artistically active in technical filmmaking than I had remembered?
Verdict: A-
“The Graduate” is now available to stream on YouTube, Vudu, iTunes, Google Play, Amazon Prime, and The Criterion Channel.
Burning the Celluloid 
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