The Kindergarten Teacher - A Netflix Movie Review

We are going to show your talent to the world. Everybody needs to hear your poems.

The Kindergarten Teacher was released to Netflix in 2018. One of Lisa’s kindergarten students has a gift to recite poems. Becoming obsessed with his talent, Lisa decides to enroll him in a poetry-speaking event.

The Kindergarten Teacher was not the movie I was expecting. In some parts, mainly from Lisa’s behavior, this film made me feel uncomfortable. Making students’ gifts known is a given but not in the way as exploited in the film.

With each film she stars in, Maggie Gyllenhaal acquaints that she is a gifted actress. Lisa Spinelli obsesses over one of her kindergarten students. One has to analyze Lisa’s mind and her erratic behavior to understand why she is doing all this. Her character aside, it’s Gyllenhaal who conquers a tremendous and memorable performance.

In his film debut and only role since the film's release, Parker Sevak did a wonderful job as 5-year-old Jimmy. Holding a gift to write poems, I’m impressed with Sevak’s earnest delivery. Gyllenhaal and Sevak worked well together in their interactions. Unsettling at times with how Lisa treats Jimmy, the motivation is a bit confusing.

Side characters were not used to their fullest potential. Lisa’s family needed more depth. Lisa has a hard time relating to her husband and her kids (Michael Chernus, Sam Jules, and Daisy Tahan) She berates her family for their lack of creativity. We hardly get to know the family members. The family dysfunction side plot was left unfinished.

It’s implied that Lisa feels like a shadow, whether in her family or the world. In my opinion, writers should have either deleted the family concept or constructed a stronger in-depth concept of Lisa’s family to make it work. Lisa should have been alone. By the end, there is no mention of her family whatsoever.

Gael Garcia Bernal was noteworthy in his role as Lisa’s writing teacher. Similar to Lisa’s family, his side plot doesn’t go anywhere either. Other credits include Anna Baryshnikov, Ajay Naidu, Rosa Salazar, and Samrat Chakrabarti.

The Kindergarten Teacher was unrealistic. Lisa’s actions would have gotten her fired a long time before she gets out of control. Nobody, not even the teacher aid is calling her out considering how often Lisa is alone with Jimmy. I am also very surprised that nobody alerts the police.

The poetry is the highlight of the film. All of the poems were written by Kaveh Akbar and Ocean Vuong. To a degree, the message of the film signifies that nobody should ever hide special talents. Demonstrate your talent to the world. We all have different talents. What we should never do is steal from others to make it our own.

Sara Colangelo focused on a different mindset of teachers, which sadly exists. The Kindergarten Teacher is a remake based on a 2014 Israeli film of the same name. I have not seen this film to compare. Colangelo’s main focus was the interactions between Lisa and Jimmy. The side characters deserved proper focus along with some story elements.

The first half of the film was slow, focusing on characters and laying out story dynamics. There should have been more to the story. The film does a good job of showing and not telling. In a way, the film is supposed to make you uncomfortable but it is engaging throughout.

Be careful as some elements and Lisa’s behavior could be triggering. It is disturbing at times, particularly towards the end. Find The Kindergarten Teacher on Netflix and give it a watch.