68
Metascore
12 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 90The New York TimesA.O. ScottThe New York TimesA.O. ScottThe Kindergarten Teacher — the film as well as the character — yearns for different values, for intensity, beauty and meaning. Its sobering lesson is that the search for those things is most likely to end in madness, confusion and violence.
- 80The GuardianJordan HoffmanThe GuardianJordan HoffmanOne of the most fascinating, if inscrutable films of the year.
- 80The Hollywood ReporterJordan MintzerThe Hollywood ReporterJordan MintzerLapid’s approach is so cautious yet so ambitious, he manages to weave an engrossing narrative that -- despite some longueurs after the one-hour mark -- grows progressively intense.
- 80New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriNew York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriLapid’s thrilling use of the camera, the way his unbalanced frame and his imaginative staging work with the precision of his story, results in something new and genuinely unnerving.
- 75Slant MagazineDiego SemereneSlant MagazineDiego SemereneThe film's denouement is at once shocking and organic because it echoes a well-paced but nasty children's fable.
- 70VarietyJay WeissbergVarietyJay WeissbergAlways engrossing but also perplexing and offering little deeper than the obvious, “Teacher” still reps a new development in a striking, idiosyncratic director.
- 50New York PostFarran Smith NehmeNew York PostFarran Smith NehmeIsraeli director Nadav Lapid uses a well-worn concept — a lonely little boy is taken under a teacher’s wing — to create a slow, creepy movie.
- 50The A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloThe A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloWhat primarily comes across is a film about squandered creativity that itself ignores and trivializes the creative process, pretending that child prodigies produce masterworks unconsciously, like a chicken laying eggs. That’s a poor lesson to impart.
- 42The PlaylistNikola GrozdanovicThe PlaylistNikola GrozdanovicThe Kindergarten Teacher is too lackadaisical in its execution to be as profound as it thinks it is.
- Slightly mesmerizing performances from Larry and young Shnaidman just manage to sustain interest in this quiet story. Even if it’s going nowhere.