Written and directed by Liam Treacy, Graduation explores the dark side of legal highs – specifically a drug known as mephedrone, or M-CAT, which in 2010 was made a Class B drug.
Set in a UK university campus, we begin by following a drug dealer named Jordan (Finley Clifton). He runs his business over the internet, delivering drugs across the campus to anyone who orders them. Apart from his fairly substantial dealing operation, Jordan is a fairly normal student. He meets with friends and partakes in all the usual uni chit chat. The dialogue here has an unrehearsed, realist quality, and I felt it did capture the essence of student life. Something that was quite evident, however, was that the production has made use of empty halls of residence. This meant the mise-en-scene was on the unconvincing side as the rooms had little evidence of being lived in. One thing they did nail in terms of mise-en-scene is the gigantic collection of alcohol bottles that must periodically and ceremonially be thrown out.
Although it seems like Jordan will be our protagonist, we soon switch perspectives to one of his client base who has purchased drugs for a party. Up until this point, Graduation makes use of title cards, inserting them into scenes to give further explanation. As we enter the student house party, this is taken a step further with graphics used to provide dialogue for everyone.
The group of friends, Sophie, Emily Robert, Adam and Sarah, begin their night, but it’s not long before tensions start to arise. In this context, having the dialogue communicated through graphic speech bubbles rather than being spoken seemed to slow the pace too much. The punchy drama of a party atmosphere turned sour is slightly lost. However, the misalignment in perceived pace vs actual pace does create a strange sensation for the viewer, not entirely different to experiencing the world while being inebriated. It could have been more effective if there was a whiplash change in pace to contrast, especially when the evening really starts to go south. One of the girls, Emily, is very annoyed and decides to take the majority of the rest of the drugs. As a result she begins to have a seizure. Utilizing a change of pace here would play into the “it all happened so fast” narrative that usually accompanies traumatic events such as this.
The students call the accommodation porter (Alex Smart) who then becomes part of the nightmare. The rest of the night is pieced together non-chronologically as the porter investigates what could have been done to prevent the drugs being used.
Overall, the pacing of the film is a little slow and tends to lack clear drive and direction in the narrative. Despite this, the levels of creativity in the cinematography and editing are supremely commendable. The use of a red filter, slow motion, different aspect ratios, and the title cards/speech graphics are all examples of bold creative choices. With some refinement of the story and script, these skills will be foundational to filmmaking that is both innovative, effective and engaging.
Graduation is a melting pot of visual creativity. Watch the trailer below.