School Life
Magnolia Pictures | Release Date: September 8, 2017 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
73
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 15 Critic Reviews
Positive:
14
Mixed:
0
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
The PlaylistGary GarrisonMar 7, 2017
It certainly succeeds in being a joyous, humane look at the role that school, education, and, most importantly, teachers have in the lives of such malleable minds. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranSep 14, 2017
School Life is as charming, intimate and warm-hearted an observational documentary as you'd ever want to see. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubJosh ModellSep 6, 2017
Maybe it won’t exist in Ireland much longer either, so it’s a good thing that School Life manages to capture its weird, wonderful world. Read full review
80
TimeStephanie ZacharekSep 6, 2017
School Life is a bit woolly in its pacing, but the picture’s easygoing structure is part of its charm—it mimics, perhaps, the passage of time at Headfort itself. Read full review
80
Screen DailyFionnuala HalliganMar 7, 2017
Childhood is a mystery we endlessly come back to and a place the Leydens have never fully left; Ní Chianáin gives the viewer an intimate view of it in this unusual little story. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleG. Allen JohnsonSep 21, 2017
It’s a quiet film that almost slips by without notice. Read full review
75
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanSep 14, 2017
In tone, School Life feels like a recruiting film for prospective students. It isn’t exactly profound, except perhaps in the way it makes a case for the theory that happiness comes first, and then learning. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comSheila O'MalleySep 8, 2017
It is a celebration of these two eccentric and devoted teachers (and, by extension, teachers everywhere). We see them at work, we see them at rest, we see them kneeling by an open window smoking, wondering what they would ever do with themselves if they weren't doing this? Read full review
75
IndieWireDavid EhrlichMar 7, 2017
By highlighting sweet, indicative, or hilarious moments rather than tracing the teachers’ relationships with any particular students, the film is more attuned to the rhythms of Headfort than it is the people in it. Read full review
75
The Film StageJohn FinkMar 7, 2017
In Loco Parentis is a warm work of cinéma vérité. Read full review
70
Village VoiceDanny KingSep 7, 2017
The central couple’s unforced benevolence is hard to resist; the bespectacled John, in particular, exhibits remarkable comfort in front of the camera, his frizzy white hair and knowing reaction shots lending him a kind of quizzical charisma throughout. Read full review
70
The New York TimesBen KenigsbergSep 7, 2017
School Life is a loving portrait, primarily, of the inspirational educator couple, who command the respect of their students and always seem to know what a particular child needs to hear. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterNeil YoungMar 7, 2017
A conventionally mounted tribute to a genial, decidedly British form of eccentricity. Read full review
70
VarietyGuy LodgeMar 7, 2017
There’s considerable poignancy in the contrast between this eccentric pair’s mutual sense that their lives are winding down and the vast, still-unshaped futures of their young charges, but Ní Chianáin’s film largely resists sentimentality of the “Greatest Love of All” variety. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineDiego SemereneSep 6, 2017
School Life is unfortunately committed to keeping its subjects, especially Headfort’s students, at arm’s length. Read full review
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