Allan Watched "The Kindergarten Teacher"
Pragmatic and deliberate, The Kindergarten Teacher is a great showcase of Maggie Gyllenhaal’s ability, but lacks enough punch to power a slow and simple story.
Gut Feeling: How’d He Feel Right After Watching
The Kindergarten Teacher feels more like a good short story than a full film. An adaption of a 2014 Israeli film of the same title, the movie is very practical and clear in its message, and it benefits from its 90-minute run time, but it just sort of muddles along. Gyllenhall is really terrific, and I appreciate its artistic wrapping paper, but the lack of dynamics leaves you pretty unmoved.
Maggie’s Movie
If Lisa Spinelli (very strong name for a character from Staten Island) was played by a weaker lead than Gyllenhall, this movie would have been a real bore. But as she has shown recently in The Deuce, Maggie G continues to get better and better with age. You very clearly see the struggle Lisa is going through as she desperately tries to shine the light on her young student Jimmy’s poetic talent and make sure it is not wasted. We see her strength and sanity slowly chip away while she confronts her artless family and her lack of ability as a poet, and her quiet intensity alone carries this movie through. You feel for her, yet know she is a crazy person on the verge of a big ol’ breakdown.
Young Parker Sevak gives about as strong of a performance you can expect from a five year old, and the rest of the cast blends into the background quietly. Gael Garcia Bernal (Mozart in the Jungle) is particularly strong as Lisa’s poetry teacher Simon, and he book-ends his journey from passion to disappointment towards Lisa very successfully.
Beautifully Bleh
The film is beautiful and not cluttered with too many cliches, and anyone who has lived in or been to Staten Island will find the movie familiar in feel. There are a lot of gorgeous shots of Lisa and Jimmy exploring art together, and I would have been just as satisfied if this was a 20-minute silent film telling the same story.
The script is pretty blah, but I have not seen the Israeli version so I am not sure if it is a failure in adaption or just a pretty low-key story to begin with. The supporting characters feel pretty canned, and the ending is very on the nose. Gyllenhall and the beauty of the film make this movie very watchable, but they are greater than the sum of its parts.
Predictably Classical
If you like cliche classical music usage and avant-garde accompaniments to a movie about poetry, this is your movie!
Random Thoughts
No kindergarten class in the history of the world has been as quiet or in control as Mrs. Spinelli’s class.
I spent the whole movie thinking the setting was Jersey City, based on how they talk about Bayonne, but it turns out it is in Staten Island. It means nothing, but I found myself displaced from the movie when I realized it.
This movie combines two words I cannot spell for the life of me: Gyllenhall and Kindergarten.
I think Netflix is the perfect home for shorter films like this. The entire experience was 90 minutes, and then I am on with my life.
This movie did very well at Sundance, which is not surprising. It is a very Sundance movie.
Are there adult poetry classes? Because I’d be down for that.
Quick Hits:
How many times have I seen this movie?
First time!
Where was I watching it?
I was watching on my laptop while I played Madden 19. I had to pause a lot, because there are long gaps of dialog. I was drinking coffee that was about nine hours old. Usual stuff.
Did Kellye Watch it? If Yes, did she like it? If no, would she like it?
Kellye did not watch it, and when I told her I watched it she said “Why?”. Which leads me to believe she would not be into it. As a teacher, she would likely be horrified of Lisa’s actions and the unrealistically quiet classroom.
Favorite fact I learned from Wikipedia
That this movie does, in fact, take place in Staten Island.
Favorite part
When the little girl in Jimmy’s class paints her hand totally purple and gives zero shits about it.
Least favorite part
The ending is abrupt and on the nose. Not a fan.
Would I recommend this movie and why?
It is a short movie, and Maggie Gyllenhall is so good that it may be worth it. It’s on Netflix so it is easy to watch. Idk man, low risk with watching this one.
So What Does Allan Give It?
One thumbs up. Overall, a 59. Maggie G saves this movie. I also could not find a single GIF from this movie, so here is on of her that I use a lot.
