The Kindergarten Teacher

Name: The Kindergarten Teacher
Genre: Drama
Released: October 12, 2018
Duration: 96 min
Rating: 75
Cast: Ajay Naidu, Anna Baryshnikov, Ato Blankson-Wood, Carter Kojima, Daisy Tahan

2018

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Generally favorable reviews based on 26 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 34 Ratings

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7.5

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7.5	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 34 Ratings

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The Kindergarten Teacher

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Movie Details & Credits

Netflix | Release Date: October 12, 2018 | Not Rated

Starring: Ajay Naidu, Anna Baryshnikov, Ato Blankson-Wood, Carter Kojima, Daisy Tahan, Gael García Bernal, Gianna Jean, Haley Murphy, Jillian Panlilio, Libya Pugh, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Michael Chernus, Noah Rhodes, Parker Sevak, Rosa Salazar, Sam Jules, Samrat Chakrabarti, Stefaniya Makarova

Summary: When a Staten Island kindergarten teacher discovers what may be a gifted five year-old student in her class, she becomes fascinated and obsessed with the child—spiraling downward on a dangerous and desperate path in order to nurture his talent. [Netflix]

Director: Sara Colangelo

Genre(s): Drama

Rating: Not Rated

Runtime: 96 min

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Metascore

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Critic Reviews

100

The Guardian Jordan Hoffman

The Kindergarten Teacher is probably the only movie about poetry with an ending as tense as any thriller. Read full review

IndieWire David Ehrlich

Gyllenhaal has been too good too often to label any one of her performances as her best, but she’s certainly never been better than she is here. Read full review

The Guardian Peter Bradshaw

Mar 6, 2019

Gyllenhaal is terrific as a teacher and wannabe poet who exploits a child prodigy in this gripping psychological drama. Read full review

The Playlist Gregory Ellwood

Colangelo’s adaptation continually feels like it’s missing something.... Luckily though, Collangelo has Gyllenhaal, who is exceptional at times here, to carry it through. Read full review

RogerEbert.com Tomris Laffly

Oct 12, 2018

Both scrupulous and fittingly hazy, Gyllenhaal captures her character’s outsider-ly state-of-mind with astonishing depth, through the subtlest of details in the way she carries herself. Read full review

Peter Rainer

Oct 19, 2018

One of those movies with a terrific premise left unfulfilled. Read full review

Filipe Freitas

Dec 25, 2018

The only reason to watch The Kindergarten Teacher is Ms. Gyllenhaal’s performance, whose quality makes us resist until it’s possible. Read full review

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User Reviews

Thomass

Nov 20, 2018

Very unique sort of picture. Maggie Gyllenhaal was excellent and does often seem to be in movies that skirt the edges of social mores. Here the film deals with obsession and at the same time the loss of poetry in the culture. Well written script and carried off very well.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Johnrieber

Nov 25, 2018

This is a very thought-provoking film. Maggie Gyllenhaal gives a powerful performance, as a woman who is seeking some meaning in her life, and she thinks she finds it in a gifted young Kindergarten student. The young boy who plays this part is also terrific, but this is Gyllenhaal's filmThis is a very thought-provoking film. Maggie Gyllenhaal gives a powerful performance, as a woman who is seeking some meaning in her life, and she thinks she finds it in a gifted young Kindergarten student. The young boy who plays this part is also terrific, but this is Gyllenhaal's film all the way and she is compelling from start to finish. "Quite desperation" describe her at the beginning, and "honorably unhinged" she where she ends up. A really good movie.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

IsaacJ

Jun 26, 2019

“Anna is beautiful, beautiful enough for me. The sun hits her yellow house, it’s almost like a sign from God”. This is the poem uttered eerily instinctively by five-year old Jimmy (Parker Sevak) in Sara Colangelo’s The Kindergarten Teacher, a tantalising remake of the Israeli film of the“Anna is beautiful, beautiful enough for me. The sun hits her yellow house, it’s almost like a sign from God”. This is the poem uttered eerily instinctively by five-year old Jimmy (Parker Sevak) in Sara Colangelo’s The Kindergarten Teacher, a tantalising remake of the Israeli film of the same name. Jimmy’s poetic compositions seem only to catch the curiosity of his kindergarten teacher, Lisa Spinelli (Maggie Gyllenhaal), who we see is quietly disillusioned with the mundanity of her everyday life and distanced from her family. Her only passion appears to be poetry; she attends late night classes with an attractive professor (Gael Garcia Bernal), but he thinks her poems are “derivative” and lack originality. But something snaps when she hears Jimmy’s poem; her intrigue in the child’s ‘gift’ (“We’re dealing with a young Mozart”) steadily begins to slide into obsession, making for a delightfully unsettling psychodrama where Gyllenhaal is the true star.
The Kindergarten Teacher is a thoroughly interesting film, teeming with nuance and subtleties. It’s a definite slow burn, a film that creeps up the tension, walking that knife edge between believable and otherwise just as its character does. Initially when we meet Lisa, her loneliness is palpable. Much of the film, however, focuses on her relationship with this young boy, as her actions become all the more disconcerting; nap times are replaced with exchanges of phone numbers, Jimmy’s babysitter is fired so Lisa can spend more time with him and so on. It’s a masterfully crafted piece, conjuring a distinctly sinister tone that still manages to cement itself in reality and blossoms with ambiguity. Whilst Colangelo is an assured directing talent and the young Parker Sevak is remarkable, the real force behind The Kindergarten Teacher is Maggie Gyllenhaal, who delivers one of the most understated yet powerful performances of her career. Often the camera will settle woozily just on her face; even with no words, Gyllenhaal’s expressions seep with isolation, loneliness and, upon ‘discovering’ Jimmy’s talent, a creepily ecstatic sense of hope. It is Gyllenhaal who manages to keep the film grounded; even as Lisa’s actions become all the more unnerving, the performance allows us to totally buy her motives and keep us strangely sympathetic.
It is safe to say that The Kindergarten Teacher is not a film for everyone. The pace is deliberately unhurried, allowing the story to unfold with gripping if sometimes frustrating slowness. Equally, it’s a film of unanswered questions; are Lisa’s actions simply out of nurture? Is Jimmy being groomed? How far should one go in the pursuit of art? Is Lisa the only one who truly recognises Jimmy’s talent? Most cynical of all… is Jimmy even as good as Lisa insists he is? These themes and questions are explored yet blissfully never explained in the film; in the end, the answers are left purely to our perception. The subject matter is never covered too overtly or with any gratuity; for example, there is no suggestion of a sexual element to Lisa and Jimmy’s relationship. The Kindergarten Teacher is far cleverer than that; though Lisa’s actions are never shown positively, neither are they shown negatively either. Is she actually the only one helping Jimmy? Colangelo proves nothing here is black and white.
In terms of the general craftsmanship, there is impressive work here too. Asher Goldschmidt’s score is jagged and tense and Pepe Avila del Pino’s camera sweeps with versatility from wide landscapes to intimate close-ups. All in all, The Kindergarten Teacher is an expert piece of filmmaking, subtle and complex. It’s the sort of movie that will leave you thinking about it for days after, pondering its riddles and marvelling at that gorgeous central performance.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

alejandro970

Dec 2, 2018

Doused by complexity, a psychological drama about a probably Asperger kid and his potential talents, and his teacher -remarkable Maggie Gyllenhaal- who tries to help him with good intentions. Good choice.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

JLuis_001

Oct 15, 2018

I's not superior to the original film but they are definitely on par. And that is something that very rarely and hardly can be said of an American remake of a foreign film.

Maggie Gyllenhaal offers the best performance of her career in many years and her work is a great reason to see thisI's not superior to the original film but they are definitely on par. And that is something that very rarely and hardly can be said of an American remake of a foreign film.

Maggie Gyllenhaal offers the best performance of her career in many years and her work is a great reason to see this film. Whether you saw the original or not. It's worth it.… Expand

2 of 2 users found this helpful20

amheretojudge

Oct 16, 2018

resisting it and not fighting it..

The Kindergarten Teacher Colangelo has a very tricky and hard (hard isn't something we usually get) tale to tell. The focused subject isn't aware of the potential and the one (the kindergarten teacher) setting up the stage does. The rawness that subjectresisting it and not fighting it..

The Kindergarten Teacher

Colangelo has a very tricky and hard (hard isn't something we usually get) tale to tell. The focused subject isn't aware of the potential and the one (the kindergarten teacher) setting up the stage does. The rawness that subject has, has to be kept alive and yet should be explained the "yes" and "no"s of the world. Now, the teacher has to walk a thin line on elaborating and sculpting this entire phenomenon to the subject, which she does in a very subtle way. And Colangelo has a much more thinner line where she has to explain this entire communication in the most simplistic way. And on that note, it is a triumph on a cinematic level. But what drags down this magical act, is the cultural semantics that it feels somehow obliged to follow. If we sweep of that semantics, there lies a sensational and moving poem ready to change our views. Amidst all those poems recited by the student, wait for Gyllenhaal's rhymes; you are mesmerized and in awe of the specificity of it. It undoubtedly is utterly metaphorical to the core. The side characters are mere pawn and the primary ones are bots that we revolve around. Colangelo has got one more thing aptly on mark. Her characters are three dimensional. They are more humane, they are flawed, they are ethically wrong and they are brooding mistakes and reminiscing about the already made ones. The narration is layered and adaptive, but it isn't gripping since it finds itself busy on building up for the upcoming sequences to a point where you may think that she forget that it is being watched. Nevertheless, the pragmatic conversation, higher concept that it fiddles with, riveting poems and Colangelo's passion keeps you tangled in this innocent bubble. The supporting cast has done a decent work, although nothing outstanding. Gyllenhaal's stellar performance is what purely the feature relies upon on terms of execution. She fuels this entire act by resisting it and not fighting it. She understands the repercussion, she understands the obviousness, and writes an honest poem on screen to be read. The way she looks at his student can be iterated as a gist of the tale. That overwhelming dose that she is going through is what's foliated by Colangelo through her direction, which she does succeed on. The process is rudimentary, the structure is familiar and the lucid interpretation of the intentions in its initial stage, shucks away the concept's integrity; it may feel like such a brilliant idea is taken for granted in here. The range of the script is surprisingly wider, it soothes and heals you with its poem and fabrication of it but it also keeps you on the edge of the seat where you are immensely worried about the characters; we are practically scared. The Kindergarten Teacher is a lesson to be learnt by the viewers and by the makers, this edgy tale should not be pushed, not the characters, not the semantics.… Expand

1 of 2 users found this helpful11

mohamad91hk

Aug 22, 2019

The film is all about the performance of Maggie, the story isn't strong, it's just about the obsession of a teacher on a talented child, also the story isn't attractive, if anyone read the plot before watching the film, they will skip it. This kind of story could be better as a short movieThe film is all about the performance of Maggie, the story isn't strong, it's just about the obsession of a teacher on a talented child, also the story isn't attractive, if anyone read the plot before watching the film, they will skip it. This kind of story could be better as a short movie not in 96 minutes.

I would like to salute Maggie about her solid performance, she was perfect and must be nominated for a reward, she is deeply involved in her role, you can see it by her reactions, facial expressions, etc. you feel every part of her body was acting even when she was silent.

If you want to watch an enjoyable story, this is not a good choice, but if you like to see a great performance, this one will be a good choice.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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