The Kindergarten Teacher * * * *
Creepy! But that's NOT how it is being advertised; in fact it might not occur to you just how inappropriate her conduct is until you are well into it, or maybe not until afterward when you begin to reflect upon it.
This woman might be well meaning and she probably wouldn't hurt anyone, but none the less, one should not behave like this. Yet, the question remains have we missed out on something? Was she right? Has a jewel slipped through our fingers?
Maggie Gylenhall (excellent as always) plays a kindergarten teacher, Lisa. Clearly she is dedicated to her profession and good at it. She is happily married to a supportive husband. They share ideas and thoughts, along with the challenges that their two teenage children throw at them.
At night she follows her passion for poetry and attends a weekly class. She is particularly interested in Kabuki, that deceptively simple, but highly disciplined form of Japanese poetry.
Jimmy, a child in her kindergarten class utters poems at random. Poems which he makes up in his head. Their short form is rather like Kabuki. They are pure and perfect and unfiltered. How can it be that a mere five year old can spout poetry like this? He must be a prodigy.
Lisa becomes obsessed with Jimmy. And it is then that we begin to witness the change from a decent Mum and kindergarten teacher to someone acting more and more peculiarly, but the way she is acting seems somewhat understandable. For we too are entranced by this child's extraordinary abilities, especially when she presents his work to her tutor and he too is mightily impressed.
To Lisa she is desperately protecting something that must be protected. A precious item that will be crushed and wasted by this cruel insensitive world. She feels she has been charged with nurturing the child Mozart or the developing Dali Lama. No matter what anyone thinks or says, this child must be protected at all costs, and as we learn, her obsession and the lengths she goes to are very costly.
Set in Staten Island New York it's a remake of an Israeli film of the same name, but it's a well acted intriguing drama.
And how they got that five year old to perform like that is a wonder in itself!
This woman might be well meaning and she probably wouldn't hurt anyone, but none the less, one should not behave like this. Yet, the question remains have we missed out on something? Was she right? Has a jewel slipped through our fingers?
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| Miss with her pocket sized Kabuki poet. |
At night she follows her passion for poetry and attends a weekly class. She is particularly interested in Kabuki, that deceptively simple, but highly disciplined form of Japanese poetry.
Jimmy, a child in her kindergarten class utters poems at random. Poems which he makes up in his head. Their short form is rather like Kabuki. They are pure and perfect and unfiltered. How can it be that a mere five year old can spout poetry like this? He must be a prodigy.
Lisa becomes obsessed with Jimmy. And it is then that we begin to witness the change from a decent Mum and kindergarten teacher to someone acting more and more peculiarly, but the way she is acting seems somewhat understandable. For we too are entranced by this child's extraordinary abilities, especially when she presents his work to her tutor and he too is mightily impressed.
To Lisa she is desperately protecting something that must be protected. A precious item that will be crushed and wasted by this cruel insensitive world. She feels she has been charged with nurturing the child Mozart or the developing Dali Lama. No matter what anyone thinks or says, this child must be protected at all costs, and as we learn, her obsession and the lengths she goes to are very costly.
Set in Staten Island New York it's a remake of an Israeli film of the same name, but it's a well acted intriguing drama.
And how they got that five year old to perform like that is a wonder in itself!
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