Dead Poets Society

John Chard

2019-07-08

⭐ 9

Carpe Diem & The Punk Rock Movie. Dead Poets Society is directed by Peter Weir (Picnic At Hanging Rock/Gallipoli) and stars Robin Williams, Robert Sean Leonard, Ethan Hawke, Kurtwood Smith, Gale Hansen & Norman Lloyd. The script is written by Tom Schulman, based on his life at Montgomery Bell Academy, an all-boys preparatory school in Nashville, Tennessee. The film is set in 1959 at the fictional Welton Academy in Vermont (location shoot from St. Andrew's School in Middletown, Delaware). The story follows that of English teacher John Keating who uses his different method of teaching to insp…

Wuchak

2021-07-09

⭐ 10

_**Seize the day; be Exceptional!**_ John Keating (Robin Williams), a new teacher at a stuffy prep school in 1959, inspires his students to capitalize on their natural talents and develop a passion for life because they only have one shot and in 60 years or so they'll all be worm-food. Each boy starts to act on Keating's dynamic ideas with explosive consequences , both good and bad. Released in 1989 and directed by Peter Weir, "Dead Poets Society" is a coming-of-age drama that's one of the most inspiring films ever made and ranks with my all-time favorite movies. The film captivates from…

CinemaSerf

2022-07-03

⭐ 7

Robin Williams ("Keating") arrives at an all boys school where he is to teach them English. As you'd expect, they weren't particularly interested, but when he begins by telling them to rip up the poetry manual, and continues with an inspirational and vocational approach the pupils start to engage not only with him, but they set up the eponymous club which helps each of them to develop as a person. This is quite a task for the shy young "Todd" (easily the most effective performance of Ethan Hawke's career) and for aspiring actor "Neil" (a terrifically measured and sincere Robert Sean Leonard) w…

The (very absurd) point of view of the rich people about freedom. The Movie is so pathetically formulaic that it makes you want to throw tomatoes at the screen. The Horatian ideal, of Stoic-Epicurean origin, of a life enjoyed in the good it gives us, even if it is little, is here often repeated, inaccurately, as an invitation to live joyfully. And it makes us laugh and reflect even more that it is observed from an "even higher" point of view than the already very high social class of the characters.

"Dead Poets Society" never endeavours to sweeten the bitter pill of disappointment or tragedy by playing to whatever cliched expectations you might have. Neil's father Mr. Perry isn't going to suddenly relent and admit what a stupid and selfish fool he has been and then decide to change his uncompromising viewpoint in relation to his son's disputed future. He actually becomes even more entrenched in his stubborn determination that his son will live his life the way he wants it lived. However, this film isn't content to end on such a desperately dispiriting note as Neil's tragic suicide, so it …