The Kindergarten Teacher

SPOTLIGHT: In one of her finest turns to date, Maggie Gyllenhaal plays Lisa Spinelli, an engaged, slightly bohemian kindergarten teacher who notices an uncanny knack for poetry in Jimmy, one of her young students, in this arresting drama that took home the directing prize at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Perfectly inhabiting ankle-length skirts, flat shoes, and oversized jewelry, Gyllenhaal taps into fathomless wells of empathy (which border on pathological obsession) as Lisa, whose attempts to nurture and capture on paper Jimmy’s rare gift are met with concern from the child’s family as well as her own. Inspired by Israeli director Nadav Lapid’s 2014 film of the same name, Sara Colangelo’s beautifully realized second feature makes some noteworthy pivots from Lapid’s, while still asking a complex question without easy answers: How do we preserve the natural talents of our generation’s Mozarts amid the spoils of our modern world?

Expected Guest: Maggie Gyllenhaal  (Oct. 12)