A good movie

Back in 1998, Tony Kaye made 'American History X' which turned out to be one of the most acclaimed directing debuts ever made. Well, even though it could have been the start of a promising career, at the time, Kaye made a big fuss about how much he actually hated his own movie and, as a result, he pretty much blacklisted himself. Eventually, it took him some time to get his act back together and, almost 20 years later after the release of its masterpiece, I finally watched another directing effort from this guy. Well, even though it was maybe nothing really groundbreaking, I thought it was a solid drama and probably the most depressing depiction of the life of an average teacher I have ever seen. It was also terribly realistic, I'm afraid. It's too bad that everything happening outside the school didn't work so well. Especially the sub-plot about the main character giving shelter to a young prostitute was rather misguided. Indeed, not only the guy was an amazing substitute but he apparently also had a heart of gold but I think it would have been more interesting if they only focused on his school work like they did in 'Entre les murs' which remains by far the best movie about this subject. This movie was also a good reminder that Adrien Brody was once one of the most promising actors of his generation. To conclude, in spite of its flaws, I thought it was pretty good and it is definitely worth a look.

7/10