Do you feel like you’re missing out on important films? Princeton Adult School has a course to catch you up on “films you should have seen but didn’t.”
The 18th season of the school’s movie course is set to begin Feb. 4 and continue meeting on Mondays through April 29.
Curator Bill Lockwood, who is also the special programming director at McCarter Theater, said the class features movies that were not shown at area movie theatres.
“The philosophy behind the series is that movies a discriminating audience should see are not shown at movie theatres like Princeton Garden or Montgomery,” Lockwood said.
Lockwood said that many independent and foreign films that film fanatics like to see are only in theatres for a limited time.
“This series gives film buffs a chance to see what they miss,” Lockwood said.
The course also allows the audience to see the films in a theatrical setting instead of at home on DVD. Lockwood said that even a home theatre is not a substitute for seeing a film in theatres.
“Going to the movies is a social, shared experience where you can laugh, cry and shudder in fear together,” Lockwood said.
Lockwood considers himself a serious movie-goer. He said he goes to New York City at least once a week to see movies that will not be shown in the Princeton area.
Lockwood said films he has seen that he believes have an important subject matter, director or performance by an actor are added to a list which he considers when writing the course description.
“The overriding premise of the course is this is something you haven’t seen and, based on my own judgement, I think you should see it,” Lockwood said.
This Spring’s movies include, “Oslo, August 13th,” “Take Shelter,” “Margaret,” “You Can Count on Me,” “Your Sister’s Sister,” “Meek’s Cutoff,” “Elena,” “Margin Call,” “I Wish,” “Monsieur Lazhar,” “Jiro Dreams of Sushi,” “This is Not a Film” and “Ai Wei Wei: Never Sorry.”
Lockwood said he tries to include a good cross section of foreign films. He selected films from Russia, Turkey, Japan, Norway and Canada, along with movies from the U.S., to screen.
When the course meets, Lockwood introduces the movie and then watches the audience reaction while the film plays.
“In each year, what’s intriguing to me is to watch the reaction of the audience,” Lockwood said. He said he can tell if the film catches their attention or if they are bored.
“It’s the final resolution, how I know whether I was right about a film,” Lockwood said.
And he is not always right.
“I don’t always win, and people approach me saying ‘what were you thinking with that film?’,” Lockwood said.
The film class is one of many classes offered by Princeton Adult School open to residents of Princeton and the surrounding communities.
Princeton Adult School is a nonprofit organization run by a volunteer board. The school offers classes in technology, arts, fitness and personal enrichment. It is currently celebrating it’s 75th anniversary.
The cost of the 13-week course is $85.
Movies are set to be screened at the Friend Center Auditorium in the Computer Science Building on Olden Street in Princeton.
More information is online at princetonadultschool.org.
Bill Lockwood (Photo by Peter C. Cook),
