Exceptional film from Argentina, co-scripted & directed by Diego Lerman, with Juan Minujín* in a remarkably detailed & touching turn as a one-book novelist trying on substitute high school teaching in a tough working-class neighborhood while dealing with divorce, his 12-yr-old girl’s reluctance to excel, and his widowed-father’s failing health as he opens his dream project, a Community Kitchen. None of these issues going quite as expected when a cache of drugs show up at school with a couple of his students possibly involved selling. All this informing political angles as the local drug lord, running for mayor, is mad at the teacher’s father for refusing his ‘tainted’ food donations; poaching students for his operation; furious at one (Dilan, a troubled kid who volunteers at the Community Kitchen) for breaking the code of conduct by selling drugs on school property. The latter a serious breach in local drug culture etiquette guaranteed to rile up police action against his organization. He also thinks the teacher is just the guy he can pressure to take care of each of these problems. So a drama that opens as if we were going to play street-wise school kids against power-of-literature tropes switches tracks without announcing its new course. Well constructed to handle the various storylines; there’s also some engagingly off-balance romance and great spots for the 16-yr-old kids to warm toward what had been a non-priority subject. Look for a big ox of a boy who comes alive in class with just a few lines. With a tough, realistic look and the editing of a classicist, the film is loaded with pleasurable content, sharp execution and a big emotional climax.
SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY: *Juan Minujín proves the real deal on screen. You may have already seen him in supporting work (he’s the young Pope Francis before Jonathan Pryce takes over in THE TWO POPES/’19). A regular in Argentinean film (lots of rom-coms), some smart Hollywood producer should tap him for a mainstream project. How’s his English?
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