April 11th
Aftermath
The Man Who Killed Don Quixote
The Kindergarten Teacher

Isn't it wonderful that not everyone feels the same way about every film? Ultimately film critiquing is often a matter of opinion, along with what (re)viewers brings to that film from their own lives. Here's one of those weeks where I certainly do not seem to be in alignment with many other critics. Despite my amibvalence this week, I'm always "entertained", and most films, no matter how equivocal, have redeeming features and reasons to be seen.  

Aftermath
Director: James Kent
Length: 108 min

© 20th Century Fox - a handsome and romantic tale

of loss and redemption

Five months after the allied victory over Germany, Rachael Morgan (Keira Knightley) heads to Hamburg to join her husband Colonel Lewis Morgan (Jason Clarke). He is a colonel in the British army and has been charged with rebuilding the shattered city. They are installed in the commandeered palatial home of  architect Stephen Lubert (Alexander Skarsgard) who is widowed with a teenage daughter. When Lewis makes the decision to invite Lubert to stay on in the house, the door is opened for passion and betrayal. I'm not sure why some critics are so ruthlessly cruel to this film. Sure it is somewhat predictable in its narrative arc, but it is uniformly well acted by the three leads, the chemistry between the lovers is strong, and the costumes and handsome production values are impressive. It may not be an "epic romance", but it is touching, and also has a worthy subtext: that war is never totally one-sided and even on the side of the aggressors there is sorrow, heartache and much loss to civilians who may not have necessarily followed the party line.  
3 - recommended!

The Man Who Killed Don Quixote
Director: Terry Gilliam
Length: 132 min
Exclusive to Cinema Nova

© Umbrella - Terry Gilliam finally gets his
long-awaited project off the ground

For me it's a challenge to create a potted synopsis of this convoluted plot. Advertising exec Toby (Adam Driver),10 years prior made a student film about Don Quixote, starring a local cobbler Javier (Jonathan Pryce) as the crazy old knight.  Now back in Spain, Toby revisits the town where he shot the film, only to discover Javier really believes he is Don Quixote, and that Toby is his trusty squire Sancho Panza. Throw in the Boss (Stellan Skarsgaard), gypsies, lustful women, Russian mafia and some apparent time travel and decadent partying and you have something so crazy I'm afraid I simply could not follow the plot. Director Gilliam spent 29 years trying to make this film, and one abortive attempt starring Johnny Depp was actually the subject of a doco Lost in La Mancha.  The premise is certainly fun, and the film looks terrific, shot in exotic locations including Spain, Portugal and the Canary Islands. Further, Gilliam is a master of creative imagination for his sets.  Pryce is superb as Don Quixote, but Driver for me doesn't quite fit his role. I'm not saying I didn't get some entertainment and laughs (remember Gilliam came from Monty Python's Flying Circus) but I was too bamboozled to be able to get seriously engaged with it. That said, I'm sure it will have a audience of die-hard Gilliam fans - perhaps he is just too idiosyncratic for me.
2.5 - maybe!

The Kindergarten Teacher
Director: Sarah Colangelo
Length: 96 min
Exclusive to Cinema Nova

© Madman - a powerful performance from 
Maggie Gyllenhaal underpins this disturbing film

Lisa Spinelli (Maggie Gyllenhaal) is a 40-year-old kindergarten teacher, herself a mother with two late-teen kids. She is finding life dull and unfulfilling, and her mid-life crisis leads her to a poetry class run by Simon (Gael Garcia Bernal). One fateful day Lisa discovers her 5-year-old student Jimmy (Parker Sevak) appears to be a child prodigy, spouting forth dramatically precocious poems at random. Lisa sees herself as a person who can foster another Mozart-like talent, but her interest in the child soon leads to obsession and deception until ultimately all lines of appropriateness are crossed, leading Lisa into deep water. This American remake of a 2014 Israeli drama has won the 2018 Sundance award for directing and has mostly wowed the critics on Rotten Tomatoes. Up front I'll say I'm ambivalent. There's no doubting the immense talent of Gyllenhaal, who inhabits almost every screen moment with a nuanced superb performance.Young Sevak is also an intriguing screen presence. The progressively unhinged and creepy behaviour of Lisa is mesmerisingly awful to watch, but here's where my problems begin - surely such an experienced teacher in her field would not fall into this trap, and furthermore, I simply cannot believe that this little kid was capable of wielding language to such a powerful effect. Yes it's a compellingly horrible vision of an emotionally troubled, insecure middle-aged woman self-destructing, but without the core premise feeling true for a viewer (namely me), the film becomes a worry. (Nevertheless, die-hard Gyllenhaal fans shouldn't miss it!)
2.5 - maybe!