A movie poster headlining Scorsese, De Niro, Pacino, and Pesci means you instantly know you are in for a mobster movie. How different from other mafia movies it is though. Instead of a thrill ride or glorification, we experience the mundanity, if you will, of everyday violence, murder, extortion, bribery, fraud and a variety of other felonies through the eyes and memories of the Irishman. A character study reflecting on life and loyalties, loss and loneliness, and pain and penance.
In this remake of the 2014 Israeli original, Maggy Gyllenhaal plays the titular Kindergarten Teacher, Lisa Spinelli, a 40-year old woman bored with her day to day life and her uninspiring family. One day after class, one of her pupils, 5 year old Jimmy Roy (Parker Sevak), paces around the room and almost robotically mumbles out a seemingly random few lines, which Lisa recognises as a beautiful poem. She sets out on a mission to help him develop his talent, to obsessive extremes…