Day 309 of the challenge! Keep the comfort food close, because The Kindergarten Teacher is a melancholic AF…
…and straight up anxiety inducing. I’d go as far as to describe The Kindergarten Teacher as a slow burning thriller, but wrapped up as a drama. All the thrills and angst instead come from watching Lisa, the titular kindergarten teacher (played masterfully by Maggie Gyllenhaal), go through a progressively unhinging midlife crisis.
At first, we relate with Lisa as we tag along on her daily routine, getting inside her head a bit. Despite the soft calmness in which she faces everything (her mundane and frustrating family life, her simple teaching, her failing poetry night classes, etc), we catch on very quickly that Lisa’s hungry for more. More finally then appears in the form a prodigy child in her class. Lisa becomes intent on helping this child reach his full potential (and to succeed vicariously through him), but her resolve slowly becomes a gray obsession.
Again, don’t expect an action packed hour and half from The Kindergarten Teacher. It’s a slow SLOW character burn, but one that’s well worth the watch if you have the patience for it.