Review of The Kindergarten Teacher (2018) by Alan W — 25 Oct 2018

Maggie Gyllenhaal loves a leftfield indie film and Sara Colangelo's intriguing and provocative adaptation of an Isreali film by Nadav Lapid suits her taste down to a tee. She plays the titular kindergarten teacher with a chubby husband and two teenagers at home but she feels unfulfilled and stuck in a mundane and thankless existence.

This turns into obsession when she is convinced that one of her students is a child genius at poetry when he starts reciting original verses and she decides to nurture and preserve his miraculous talent at all costs.

It has a strange conceit to start with but the film is engaging enough so that when it takes a dark and really sharp left turn in its final act, I was irritated as I find a moment of madness decision unwarranted and rather far-fetched.

This fantastical narrative development however was soon countered by one of the most sensible (and unexpectedly empowering) reaction I've seen on-screen and brings me back from the brink of despair.

The film explores that idea of unfulfilled promises and talents that require nurturing and protection but allows the protagonist that advocates that same idea to become disturbingly obsessive and thus, unsympathetic.

This does not sit well with me and it leaves me somewhat confused and uncomfortable. Thankfully, there is a tremendous performance by Gyllenhaal who is able to turn something inappropriate and sinister looking into something more nuanced and a spot-on final scene that manages to find exactly the right poignancy to save the film in its final seconds.