The History Boy

I just saw 'The History Boys'. It's supposedly based on a play of the same name produced in 2005. The movie is about eight boys who are aiming to get into Oxford or Cambridge to study history. The boys are students of a grammar school which is preparing them for the entrance exams. The movie is set in 1983 and revolves around the eight students and their three completely contrasting teachers with the Headmaster and the secretary playing minor roles.

The movie was simply stunning in terms of direction. The scenes moved from one to another with a kind of fluidity that you just can't talk of until you've seen a movie like this. There isn't one moment when you think the camera stayed on a shot too long or the soundtrack faltered. The acting too is praiseworthy, especially considering that it was the original cast of the play that acted in the movie!

The headmaster, Felix, is the easily identifiable conformist. He wants regular, structured and relevant 'education' to be imparted in the school, that - in his own words - can be quantified. The guy who teaches General Studies is known as Hector, by students and teachers alike, and is a not-really-closet homosexual (You'll understand what that means if you see the movie). The regular History professor is Mrs Lintott, who scarily reminds me of our own history prof. back at college, especially at the time of the mock interviews. (I swear, if someone just showed you a 5 minute clip of that bit of ranting and asked you to compare...). Irwin is a young teacher hired by the headmaster to help Hector and Mrs. Lintott prepare the boys for the entrance exams.

That's all I'm going to say about the plot/characters. I think the awesomeness of this movie lies in the fact that it has so many layers. At no point in the movie do they ever explicitly talk about what you just know is really being talked about. However, I think this has something to do with the whole student-teacher relationship thing, because when the boys are talking amongst themselves, they do so with such shocking frankness, I can only fervently hope that it isn't like that in real life!

The boys themselves are endearing and you end up liking them all - even smart ass Dakin and small Posner! Their characters are carefully contrasting, yet they manage to complement each other. There's the guy with the attitude, the jock, the admirer, the sidekick and so on. They all have their own single axis that they revolve around and it's beautiful too watch. You know, there's a line in the movie where Mrs. Lintott tells Hector that students forget that teachers too are human beings... I find this line to be beautifully appropriate here because the teachers in this movie are the complicated, layered people, while the boys are relatively straightforward. Mind you, that's probably just because their lives are not what the movie focuses on, but still...

This movie is more than just about History and student teacher relationships. It's about friendship and growing up and just about life. It's about different characters and how you identify with almost all of them at some point or the other. But more than all of that, it's about the subjunctive and reconciliation between contradictions... and the fact that history is made just like that. By one thing following another...

A must see, and definitely worth more than a one time watch.



P.S.

Couldn't resist it. If some of our professors had to play those teachers, this is how I think the casting would have been done.

Mrs. Lintott - History prof, or at least how she could have been (or must have at some point).

Hector -A mix of Socio and Torts. Hah! I can actually imagine it!

Irwin - Well, we don't really have anyone like that, but I'd say the closest would be Consti... (However, Irwin is a lot more insecure... and a LOT less colder!)

Nana

That's 9 episodes done.

Two girls end up sitting together on a train to Tokyo and find out they have loads in common, including their name - Nana...

They run into each other again when they're hunting for a place to live and decide to share a flat. The anime is stunning because of many reasons, especially the graphics and more importantly, the sound track. Wow. Whoever is Nana-the-singer's voice actor is stunning.

As for the "Nanas". They're both 20 years old. And they're both shifting to Tokyo. But that's pretty much where the similarity ends.

Nana-anime_dvd01

Nana 1 has strawberry blond hair and big hazel/brown/golden eyes. She's always excited and completely dependent on someone or the other. She's naive and child-like and falls in love with any one who is older and more "dependable" (whatever that means!). She's also been described as spoilt and selfish, but it really is in a harmless sorta way. As Nana 2 says, Nana 1 is like a puppy. "Friendly and obedient but always wanting atention". She's "run away" (sort of) from home and come to Tokyo so that she can be with her best friend and the guy she's in love with.

Nana 2 on the other hand, is... well... For starters, she has short dark hair. As for her eyes, they can be gray, blue, brown... Its really quite strange, but also somehow endearing. When she's upset, her eyes seem to go all wide and a light shade of gray. When she's angry or depressed, they're almost black. I dunno. She seems to be the more responsible of the two, but I've only begun the series and I think she's just as spaz in her own way. She always has a cigarette dangling from her lips and wears a leather jacket almost everywhere. Oh yes, and she is a vocalist for the recently disbanded "Blast".

What I love about the series is that there are so many little moments and scenes and words that just hit you, and you know exactly what it would feel like to be there, you know? Nana 1 has been narrating most of the episodes till now, and she sounds so ... grown up, and slightly sad... It draws you deeper into the show coz you keep wondering what happened to them.

Another reason to watch this anime. Ren. Hot. *grins* (For the guys, the two Nana's running around should be enough!)

As for the series itself, the amount of detail is refreshing. There's always something to make you grin. For example, episode 9, when Yasu is listening to Nana sing over the cell phone, he lights up right before a sign that reads "No Smoking". And he's a lawyer. *laughs*

I can not wait to find out what happens to everyone on the show.

More updates as I get the time.
Cya!
^_^

P.S. T_T. I know I totally can't write a review! Gomen Nasai. *bows* *teary eyed* I aim to improve!!! Anyhow, now I'm off to watch the first episode of Vampire Knight! Later!