8/10 - The scarlet organza has more oomph than the voile.
Having not watched a trailer or heard a synopsis, I only knew of The English Teacher from another bloggers year-end countdown list, and the poster with Julianne Moore.
If you want to establish some expectations, here's a summary. The English Teacher is about a woman's simple life becoming enraptured in the production of a former students big-city play.
Having had no expectations about this movie, I can honestly say it was a beautiful and charming. It will likely end up on the boring side of the scale for most, but there was nothing disappoint about this for me.
Character is the element most neglected in Rom-Coms. (See Admission with Tina Fey and Paul Rudd for an example of character that relies entirely on the actors charm and camera charisma.) In this case, Julianne Moore is a treasure. She brings out subtle elements Linda Sinclair that make her beyond interesting. There is usually nothing more boring than a movie introduction that attempts to show how normal and boring their lead is. In this case, its fascinating. She is every well intentioned English Teacher I've ever had, with her dowdy glasses and matching cardigan set. And yet, very quickly she surprises me. God do I love it when a character surprises me. I love it when characters keep secrets and get passionate, and loose control. That's why this is a good movie. She's a great character.
It's also well directed, and funny and endearing, and has a great supporting cast. Nathan Lane is a dream, and is impeccable, as always. My personal favorite is the tag team Principle/Vice-Principle duo of Jessica Hecht and Norbert Leo Butz. Bringing in theater actors to portray ignorant adults with no theatrical affiliation putting on an original production is brilliant.
I rarely find the need to comment on outstanding direction, but this has some great shots and moves the film along during the first half with snappy dialogue. These are techniques I would normally attribute to a seasoned director, but this is Craig Zisk's first feature film he has directed.
If you have an appreciation for subtly and great characters, then I wholeheartedly recommend this movie. In fact, I will likely place it on my best of 2013 list, like the blog I first saw it on. It's surprisingly funny and smart. If you thought, for example, Pacific Rim was great, then maybe skip this one.
"When I was divorced the soul patch just fell right into place"
IMDb - The English Teacher (5.7)
Rotten Tomatoes - The English Teacher (42%)
Amazon.ca - The English Teacher
