Quartile rating: 8/10 · 1 rating
A disillusioned college graduate finds himself torn between his older lover and her daughter.
The Graduate is a landmark of American New Wave cinema. Dustin Hoffman's breakthrough performance anchors a film full of iconic moments, and Anne Bancroft is magnetic. Nichols and cinematographer Robert Surtees deploy innovative techniques — rack focus, handheld work, unconventional framing — that feel fresh even today. The film's tone, blending alienation, dark comedy, and romance, is singular. The ending on the bus is one of cinema's most ambiguous and resonant closing images. The plot itself, while thematically rich, is the slightly weaker element — the love triangle's mechanics are relatively thin and the second half loses some momentum — keeping it at a strong but not exceptional 3.