Review: Ferris at the Faculty

 ‘Adams? Here. Adamly? Here. Anderson?… Anderson? Here! Bueller…Bueller…Bueller…Bueller…’

So began Hacked Off Films’ Friday evening screening of the cult 1980s teen classic “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”, as a student re-enacted one of its most famous scenes whilst the film began to roll in the all-too-appropriate setting of the English Faculty.

Just as Ferris turns to the camera and invites the audience to join him in his smug defiance of authority, the Hacked Off team encouraged those lucky enough to get a ticket to the sell-out event to revel in the ups and downs of Ferris’ whirlwind Ferrari ride through adolescence.

Following the success of last term’s “Harry Potter and the College Dining Hall”, the Hacked Off crew brilliantly translated John Hughes’ 1986 production into the present day with an evening of interactive entertainment.

The atmosphere was far beyond the usual mundane multiplex cinema experience: 80s dress (think perms, leggings, shades…) balloons, confetti and retro music transported the English Faculty back to the future.

Small touches, from free Oreos and Pepsi and t-shirts bearing the slogan “Save Ferris”, gave a nod to those who know and love the film and built an atmosphere for the few in the audience who, by some miserable stroke of fate, had somehow made it through their teenage years without a dose of Matthew Broderick’s school-skipping ingenuity.

Most prominently, the evening included a high school student harassing the audience to donate money to the Save Ferris fund (although the money thankfully went to the charity ExVac, not on Ferris’ kidney transplant).

In the wise words of Ferris Bueller: ‘Life moves pretty fast; if you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it’. Oxford life flies by, but certain experiences such as Hacked Off’s brilliantly conceived and imaginatively staged retro film evening are definitely worth slowing down for.