An Education Is Quality Boy Films

Having discovered that my girlfriend (a self-confessed film lover) had considerable

gaps in her viewing experience, I naturally took it upon myself to educate her. This proved quite a challenge because she quite a fussy viewer and has a lot of preconceptions about some genres of film, namely the 'boy' genres: horror, action, and science-fiction.

She had essentially boy-cotted these genres entirely, missing some absolute classics by sticking rigidly to the more critically approved genres and "more sensible" looking films. But there are plenty of truly classy films within those boyish categories which I felt can be appreciated by anyone who likes a good film.

You don't have to love Science Fiction to enjoy Star Wars I thought. And there are loads of other films which you can easily pluck out of their pigeon-hole and love for their originality, visual flair, intelligent narrative or sheer fun-factor.

Here are the first few films I applied under the Horror segment of the curriculum:

The Exorcist

The Shining

The Ring

The Sixth Sense

Silence of the Lambs

The Others

28 Days Later

Shaun of the Dead

I'm not a big fan of Horror films generally; I don't have a lot of respect for endless cheap tension, chase sequences or jump tactics but quite a few films came to mind as classy examples of horrifying brilliance. I like a horror film to be as believable as possible and send chills down your spine. Beautiful, scrawny girls running about a poorly lit house shrieking does not make me sit up and take notice. My favourite of this lot has to be The Shining. This Stanley Kubrick classic really is my perfect example of truly chilling imagery and haunting, slow-build horror.

I feel like I should throw in an Alfred Hitchcock but, alas, this is where my own film knowledge falls short.

Onto Action now:

The Bourne Trilogy

Die Hard

Raiders of the Lost Ark

Casino Royale

Oldboy (tenuous?)

I struggled a lot to come up with action films that were driven by a real quality that anyone could appreciate. My girlfriend was never going to be impressed by guns and explosions alone. Thankfully, the Bourne films went down surprisingly well and Die Hard (the forefather in my books) was accepted but maybe not given it's dues. I defy anyone not to love Indy! His charm could carry those films single-handed. What a brilliant effort it was with Casino Royale and what a woeful lack of lessons learnt made apparent by it's sequel. I'm not sure if I can get away with Oldboy as an action film, but it does contain one my my all time favourite fight scenes and this awesome film actually went down very well with the Mrs!

And finally Science Fiction:

Star Wars Episode IV

Alien

Blade Runner

Planet of the Apes

The Matrix

2001: A Space Odyssey

I think I did a little better with Science Fiction, surprisingly. Alien could have fitted into the Horror section quite happily but I think it does the Science Fiction genre more favours. Similarly the Matrix could have sat in the Action catergory and, actually, this film possibly earns equal kudos for its ground-breaking action sequences and its inventive science fiction world and story. My girlfriend had real trouble appreciating Planet of the Apes, largely due to the dated sets and make-up. I find it much easier than she does to suspend my disbelief which is a shame because this films draws plenty of clever parallels and does a great job keeping you as grounded as possible in a crazy story.

So many Science Fiction films today seem to lack the design and characters that link it's futuristic elements with reality. When a healthy balance is achieved, the fiction side of things is far more exciting. The same applies to the other genres here too I think. If that scrawny model doesn't convince me as a normal human being, I don't really care if she gets eaten by the big CGI monster (CGI, don't get me started...bring back the models I say!)

I'm certain there are loads more examples of classy films that help raise the general profile of these genres I don't claim to be a film boffin but I can say I love any film if it shows some class. My own holes in film education would have to be the older films from 70's and earlier and I await someone to show me the light.

by: Patrick Omari

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