Thursday Movie Picks: Dark Academia

 

For the 32nd week of 2022 as part of Wandering Through the Shelves' Thursday Movie Picks. We go into the subject of dark academia as school is known as a place to learn yet there are also a lot of things where it can go wrong and lead into dark paths. Here are my three picks:

1. Picnic at Hanging Rock

Peter Weir’s adaptation of the Joan Lindsay novel about a story of schoolgirls and teachers who go on a picnic at the formation known as Hanging Rock and the effects it has on a few of those students and others. Three of those students and a teacher would disappear while another student has an encounter as she goes into a state of shock. It is a film that has a lot of ambiguities and intrigue but also a look at the decline of values and etiquette that was part of the 19th Century that is on its way out with many of its characters being confronted by an ever-changing world.

2. Maurice

From James Ivory as part of the Merchant-Ivory brand is an adaptation of the E.M. Forster novel about a homosexual relationship set in an early 20th Century university in Britain. Starring James Wilby as the titular character and Hugh Grant as the object of his affection, it is a film that doesn’t just explore social differences but also the idea of homosexuality at a time when it was still taboo. Even as it is set in Cambridge at that time with the first half set in the university and the second half being about the titular character trying to renew that relationship but also falls for a young groundskeeper.

3. Suspiria

Luca Guadagnino’s interpretation of the Dario Argento horror film is an unusual remake that doesn’t aim to be the Argento film but rather something different as it is set in late 1970s West Germany at a time of social and political upheaval. Set in a ballet school, the play into a group of teachers trying to figure out who they should have to lead them towards the future as they look at a young American dancer who they believe is key to the person they’re choosing. Add a story of an old man trying to find his long-lost love and other creepy things. It is truly a horror film of sorts that defies convention while also playing into this idea of generational guilt.

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