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The Kindergarten Teacher
Lisa Spinelli is a Staten Island teacher who is unusually devoted to her students. When she discovers one of her five-year-olds is a prodigy, she becomes fascinated with the boy, ultimately risking her family and freedom to nurture his talent.
8 August 1977, Rocky River, Ohio, USA
March 1, 1973
22 August 1975, London, England, UK
October 09, 2018
The Kindergarten Teacher asks clever questions of moral responsibility, creative control and emotional maturity to great, engaging effect.
October 10, 2018
Though Gyllenhaal is all-in on this complex character study, it's in an admirably subtle way. She never once overplays Lisa's precarious emotional state, choosing instead to portray a rather ordinary woman doing some rather extraordinary things.
October 11, 2018
Gyllenhaal - who is never out of our sight - somehow makes us all her accomplices, imprisoning our sympathies even when Lisa's inappropriate behavior escalates to inexcusable.
October 10, 2018
The interesting ideas the script presents are left by the wayside in favor of watching one woman's self-destruction. With Gyllenhaal at the center, it's always captivating, but by the end, the experience feels more voyeuristic than illuminating.
October 10, 2018
With piercing hilarity, The Kindergarten Teacher dares us to work out for ourselves, from moment to moment, whether Lisa is a hero, a monster, or something in between.
October 11, 2018
The Kindergarten Teacher is a flawed movie, but it presents an onscreen character original enough to be worth knowing.
October 11, 2018
Colangelo's best move was to cast Gyllenhaal, who captures Lisa's conflicted emotions in subtle gestures and expressions, never overplaying.
October 10, 2018
The Kindergarten Teacher is purposefully not a comfortable watch, but it satisfies in many ways. Not only is its central character an imperfect woman, but she also expresses her palpable rage in a strange and fascinating form of intellectual violence.
October 11, 2018
A deft and intelligent minor-key variation on a superb 2014 Israeli film of the same title.
October 10, 2018
The Kindergarten Teacher broaches the most interesting ground whenever it contrasts Lisa's concern for Jimmy's creativity with every other adult's shrugging, "gee whiz, that's cool" attitude about it.
October 11, 2018
Gyllenhaal, a master at conveying a conflicted inner life, is pitch-perfect as she allows her concern for Jimmy to slowly slide off the rails of appropriateness.
October 11, 2018
Gyllenhaal's fantastic performance makes every decision completely believable, keeping Lisa a sympathetic character even when she's methodically ruining her own life.

