1998: Rushmore

Wes Anderson's movie about an outsider at an expensive high school is noteworthy for the contrast between the quirkiness it's trying very hard to project and the fact that the screenplay is a collection of the most-used devices from the screenwriting textbook. A self-indulgent film about a self-indulgent teenager, but it does have its strenghts, such as Bill Murray, Olivia Williams, early The Who songs, and a play about the Vietnam war. (6)

1960: Inherit the Wind

It is hard to stay neutral when telling the story of an actual historical case in which a science teacher in the USA's bible belt was sued for teaching evolution, and this film clearly, and perhaps a bit to forcefully, makes clear that it's not on the side of the religious zealots. Otherwise, this is a well-structured and all-around professionally done piece of political entertainment. (6.5)

1917: The Butcher Boy

Buster Keaton debuts in a minor role while Fatty and Slim, rivals for the heart of the same girl, both cross-dress to sneak into her school. Features a dog, lots of violence, and an attempted kidnapping. (6.5)

1973: Amarcord

For his memories of a small town in pre-war fascist Italy, Fellini didn't bother to come up with a plot, instead presenting a series of vignettes. Very well photographed by Guiseppe Rotunno, the film, though entertaining, ultimately suffers from the internal contradiction of trying to make a grotesque and a poetic picture at the same time. (7)

2003: Elephant

Do US high schools really look that good? I've never been to one, but if movies are anything to go by - and I do realize there is a selection bias - they make a helluva setting for a film. Gus Van Sant, writer-director of Elephant would probably agree, given the tenderness with which his fictionalization of the Columbine massacres looks at its setting, really taking us inside the school in a manner which is not unlike that in which The Killing of a Chinese Bookie takes us inside a night club. Put more technically, lighting, use of focus, movement of camera and use of music are all excellent.

Regrettably, Van Sant does not care much for his characters - or rather, he didn't even bother to write any characters, giving us undistilled stereotypes instead: the athlete with his pretty-in-a-boring-way girlfriend, the artsy type, the ugly female outsider, yadda yadda. (Van Sant calls them "archetypes", but that doesn't make them any more interesting.) The killers, you'll be intrigued to learn, are outsiders; they like first-person shooters and watch documentaries about the Nazis.

Yeah, the "real artists" among the filmmakers all want to be auteurs, writing their own material. But Elephant makes a strong case that Van Sant should direct other people's scripts. David Ricardo had a point, after all. (6.5)

1930: Zero de Conduite (Zero for Conduct)

Boarding school pupils prank about and so does filmmaker Jean Vigo, who didn't bother to come up with a conventional plot for this 44-minute silent film. The "snowstorm" scene is famous for a reason. (6.5)