No Tears for the Dead
No Tears for the Dead is an action movie from writer/director Jeong-beom Lee that follows the well-established formula pretty well, you know: 1) somebody who kills other people as a profession or vocation 2) has a project that goes terribly wrong (in this case a little girl gets shot dead), 3) a bit too much expository dialogue in the first ten minutes of the movie, followed up 4) a bunch of confusing bits tacked onto the main story line and 4) cartoonish thugs as well as 5) a super desirable, yet damaged character as the female lead. Of course to make it his own, Lee adds a few twists on the usual narrative to freshen things up. For instance, the damsel in distress Mo-kyeong (played by Min-hee Kim) gets to be a power player in the finance world while at the same time having a big heart (she’s a devoted daughter and grieving mother). Lee also muddles through the confusing bits in the story line because I imagine international finance will inevitably involve the Triads, and where the Triads and international financial dealings are involved, you are sure to find corrupt law enforcement. What happens when you add Kung-Fu skills and automatic weapons to the mix? Things have no choice but to get messy – in more ways than one.
Catch it on Blu-ray: The Kindergarten Teacher (Haganenet)
The year 2014 may have been a significant year for studies of non-intimate partner abusive relationships in cinema. Like the Oscar-nominated Whiplash, The Kindergarten Teacher explores how relationships with power imbalances (such as those between teachers and students) go from manipulative to exploitative in such a smooth transition that otherwise reasonable people don’t see the warning signs.
Nevertheless, there are important differences between the two films. Yes, Yoav is a much more vulnerable pupil than drummer Andrew, but the stylistic difference between the movies is what is most notable. Where Whiplash is a bit voyeuristic, this movie from writer/director Nadav Lapid feels more intimate; probably to aptly convey the small size of a kindergartner’s world.
Sarit Larry plays Nira, the kindergarten teacher of the movie title. Avi Shnaidman is Yoav, one of Nira’s students and a budding poet. Both actors give really good performances in this portrayal of an interested teacher’s descent into increasingly predatory behavior.
Lapid doesn’t try to answer many questions in The Kindergarten Teacher. The story does not explain much about Nira’s motivations nor does the audience get much of a view into what Yoav is thinking. Even so, one develops very strong reactions to interactions between the two, and that’s what makes it a good watc
