Back to School Movie Motivation

Hannah Smith ’26

Executive Arts & Entertainment Editor

As the school year starts up again and homework begins to pile up, you’re going to need a break every now and then. Here’s a list of back to school films to help you get back into the swing of things.

If you’re in the mood for a comedy, look no further than “The Holdovers.” This is the perfect New England prep school movie that will have you laughing just as much as you cry. Another great comedy is “Election,” starring Reese Witherspoon as a menacing student body president candidate and Matthew Broderick as the suffering principal. My final comedy recommendations are “Rushmore” and “The Royal Tenenbaums,” both directed by Wes Anderson. They have that beloved Anderson aesthetic alongside problematic family dynamics and ultra-mature youngsters.

If you need a little motivation or you want to feel like a scholar, I recommend “A Beautiful Mind,” a film based on the life of John Nash, a genius mathematician who was diagnosed with schizophrenia. “Whiplash” will simultaneously have you horrified and inspired to get back in the classroom. Lastly, “Captain Fantastic” is one of the most beautiful films I’ve ever seen and will make you want to learn about everything in existence. It’s about a single-parent family who has thrived while living off the grid being homeschooled by their deeply devoted father.

These next two films are for those of you who are about to graduate and lay awake at night terrified about what comes next. Also, they just so happened to be written and directed by Noah Baumbach. “Frances Ha” is one of Greta Gerwig’s earliest credits as a writer and actor where she stars as an aspiring dancer in New York City. “Kicking & Screaming” is about a group of college graduates who can’t seem to take that next step in their lives, not to be confused with the Will Ferrell movie by the same name.

If none of these films feel right and you want to watch something that’s completely unique, here are a few more suggestions. “Dream Scenario” stars Nicholas Cage as a college professor who mysteriously makes his way into people’s dreams all around the world. “Donnie Darko” is better experienced than explained, but I will say it is a deeply sinister film filled with incredible potential Halloween costumes. “Chronicle” is a film that centers around a group of high schoolers who gain superhuman powers, but it is nothing like Spider-Man. “Enemy” is a twin movie from hell, in which Jack Gyllenhaal stars as two doppelgangers who infiltrate each others’ lives. My final recommendation is “Dope,” a film about three high school seniors from a low-income neighborhood who are applying to colleges when they find themselves mixed up with gang members who force them into selling drugs. “Dope” has an ensemble cast composed of A$AP Rocky and Zoë Kravitz and countless stars before they made it big, including Shameik Moore, the voice of Miles Morales in “Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse,” another great high school film, and Tony Revolori from “The Grand Budapest Hotel.”