Student Film Reviews

Film reviews from theaters, couches, and film festivals

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1. Jan Mclaughlin 02.12.12 / 9am

   Barbara, a well writtten review. Clockwork Orange was condidered highly disturbing when it was released in 1972 and super controversial in the U.S.. I remember comming out of the theatre with my boyfriend at the time and watching him punch out a parked car passenger window. I can’t help but think Clockwork Orange may have set a standard in film for violence to be the norm and that our culture has become more desensitized. The movie really champions free will and deplors government. Reading your review has make me want to dig out my old copy of the book.
2. Gustav Orvefors 02.13.12 / 11pm

   Something that is really significant about the film is the really wide shoots. They make all the violence and madness seem allmost normal and casual. The environment is very dreamy, and you keep feeling there is something odd in the world of the movie. I don’t know if Kubrick created the madness in the film as a reflection from Alex mind, or if it is only to challenge the common perception of what is normal and not. in which case it doesn’t matter, at least not to me. The movie get me thinking and that is something I appreciate in a movie.
3. Sean Handley 02.28.12 / 5pm

   Barbara, I enjoyed reading your review. I like the way you dared your readers to keep an open mind and expect the unexpected. I did try to keep an open mind while watching this movie, but found it disturbing and very dark. The multiple camera lens angles added to film’s overall strange and distorted effect. Such as, a wide angle lens was used to make the hospital, where Alex was recuperating after jumping out the window, seem larger and more vacant. A convex lens was used to make Alex’s face seem more distorted while he was being tortured listening to Beethoven’s 9th Symphony at Mr. Alexander’s house. Top lighting used on Alex when the police are interrogating/attacking him and causing him to bleed gives Alex the impression of being powerless and helpless.
   I can understand the cult following of this movie. It’s strange and filled with psychedelic images and wild bright colors which attract the attention of its viewers. Although it does have a strange plot, there are multiple themes running through the movie, such as an individual’s (Alex’s) freedom of choice versus his conforming to social norms; and, a person’s method of compartmentalizing their live, student by day, loyal son to a mother and father, and immoral abuser/ druggie/ murderer/ rapist/ thief by night. Alex’s love of music allows him to distance himself from his monstrous side. Music is played or sung while he is doing his most dastardly deeds.
   One notable line from the film was stated by the prison Chaplain after Alex jumps out the window and ends up hospitalized – “Choice! The boy has no real choice, has he? Self-interest, the fear of physical pain drove him to that grotesque act of self-abasement. Its insincerity was clearly to be seen. He ceases to be a wrong-doer. He ceases also to be a creature capable of moral choice.” I took this to be some type of social commentary on how the government wants to make the people conform to a certain behavior by any means. In this case, the people rebelled against the government by finding the minister’s medical treatment of Alex to be inhumane. So, in order to rectify the situation so the minister can retain his government position and be voted back into office, he sets out to cure Alex of the [inhumane] cure that he initially authorized. This ultimately allows Alex to become the surprise hero of the story and gives him back his ability to choose whether rightly or wrongly. The movie ends with Alex saying “I was cured all right…”
4. Vienna Von Renner 03.16.12 / 6pm

   This is a great review. I enjoyed reading every part of it, great detail and descriptions! I’ve heard so much about this film and how disturbing or interesting it is, depending on who is telling me. When I’ve asked people what this movie is about, they can never tell me in a clear simple way. This review gives a good idea what this movie is about without giving away too much information. This review tells just enough information to persuade someone to see the movie, and that is exactly what it’s done for me. Good review, once again!
5. ashley mastako 03.26.12 / 12pm

   I really enjoyed reading this review, A Clockwork Orange can be an intimidating movie to watch and your review was very clear, simple, and easy to understand. I have only seen this movie once and with all my post research I have found the information to be repetitive and unclear with few people being able to accurately describe what happens in this movie. I understand that this movie is complicated, however this review proved to be helpful and gave me a better insight. I feel more confident in my understanding of the storyline and after reading this review I find my self compelled to watch this film again.
6. Jian Gedrick 07.18.15 / 9pm

   I liked what you said in your review of how it raptures the eye with the mise en scene. Indeed the film is an exhilarating experience throughout, one of only two X-rated films which were nominated for an Oscar for Best Picture. The startling sex and violence communicated the film in a way not seen before, but the film is so stylized that it never seems like exploitation.
7. Jesus Alvarez 02.28.20 / 8pm

   Great review, I feel like you hit many great points to what makes A Clockwork Orange so great and they way this film set a precedent for a change in the content of films, challenging controversy and taboo topics. Your point of the focus on the mise-en-scene to add to the feel and look of setting is what I feel makes this so lifelike in that its a dystopian society of what life would be like if the youth took control by doing as they mean at night by taking advantage of the elderly and what would happen in people became conditioned to behave a certain way. Furthermore, I liked your focus on classical music and taboo images used as a means to set the unsettling mood. All this adds to the atmosphere and the director nails making the audience feel out of their comfort zone. In addition, even though the videos that were shown to Alex were horrific and intense, what in actuality made my whole body ache with disgust was the acting of how Alex reacted after the conditioning. It felt so lifelike and made me feel empathy for him, this because he was no longer able to defend himself, no longer having the freedom to make choices, and no longer being able to live life normally. Your point on taboo subjects weaving and out throughout the film made me realize that there’s patterns that the director implement as to add to the experience of the overall feel and make the audience feel just like Alex. Throughout the film the director doesn’t give much time for the audience to breath, so much intensity comes in and out that the audience feels exhausted just like Alex. Much like how Alex is bombarded with experimenting, assaults, and conditioning we too were a subject to what Alex went through so that we would be even more immersed with the film.

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