The Penguin Lessons (2024)
Country: SP/US/GB
Technical: col 111m
Director: Peter Cattaneo
Cast: Steve Coogan, Jonathan Pryce, Vivian El Jaber, Alfonsina Carrocio
Synopsis:
A middle-aged English teacher, working his way through Latin America in the 1970s, lands in Buenos Aires. Numb for his own traumas, he remains disengaged from those around him, until a chance encounter with a penguin forces him to confront them both.
Review:
After Philomena, the comic actor again lends himself to a serious subject (that of the desaparecidos), though in a way that blends his estimable acting skills with associations of levity. Peter Cattaneo's delicate balancing act, meanwhile, is to simultaneously mine the penguin's comic potential and its value as a catalyst for emotional healing and honesty. Which aims are by and large achieved, give or take the odd Alan Partridge throwaway, and the film has a bitter-sweet undertow that remains with you. Catalonia and Gran Canaria effectively evoke sunny Argentina and Uruguay.
Country: SP/US/GB
Technical: col 111m
Director: Peter Cattaneo
Cast: Steve Coogan, Jonathan Pryce, Vivian El Jaber, Alfonsina Carrocio
Synopsis:
A middle-aged English teacher, working his way through Latin America in the 1970s, lands in Buenos Aires. Numb for his own traumas, he remains disengaged from those around him, until a chance encounter with a penguin forces him to confront them both.
Review:
After Philomena, the comic actor again lends himself to a serious subject (that of the desaparecidos), though in a way that blends his estimable acting skills with associations of levity. Peter Cattaneo's delicate balancing act, meanwhile, is to simultaneously mine the penguin's comic potential and its value as a catalyst for emotional healing and honesty. Which aims are by and large achieved, give or take the odd Alan Partridge throwaway, and the film has a bitter-sweet undertow that remains with you. Catalonia and Gran Canaria effectively evoke sunny Argentina and Uruguay.
Country: SP/US/GB
Technical: col 111m
Director: Peter Cattaneo
Cast: Steve Coogan, Jonathan Pryce, Vivian El Jaber, Alfonsina Carrocio
Synopsis:
A middle-aged English teacher, working his way through Latin America in the 1970s, lands in Buenos Aires. Numb for his own traumas, he remains disengaged from those around him, until a chance encounter with a penguin forces him to confront them both.
Review:
After Philomena, the comic actor again lends himself to a serious subject (that of the desaparecidos), though in a way that blends his estimable acting skills with associations of levity. Peter Cattaneo's delicate balancing act, meanwhile, is to simultaneously mine the penguin's comic potential and its value as a catalyst for emotional healing and honesty. Which aims are by and large achieved, give or take the odd Alan Partridge throwaway, and the film has a bitter-sweet undertow that remains with you. Catalonia and Gran Canaria effectively evoke sunny Argentina and Uruguay.