"This year's TIFF saw three star-studded films that wear their inspirations on their sleeves, grasping at something often just out of reach from their screenwriter's favorite movies. One's teacher vs. student cynicism echoes "Election"; another feels of a piece with Ruben Ostlund's social satires like "The Square" and "Triangle of Sadness"; while a third film could be called "Defending Your Spotless Mind." All three will have their defenders. I'm a little more mixed on at least two of them."
"The always-good-and-often-great Saoirse Ronan plays Maria, a single teacher at a fancy private school who has a child in her class that is making life intolerable. You know the kind. The little jerk is named Danny (Eddie Waller), and he lashes out literally all the time, whether he's drawing on his desk or throwing a sneaker into the machine at a cider mill."
"One day, Maria catches Danny smashing cars with a crowbar in the parking lot, grabbing him and wrestling him to the ground. He gets injured, threatening to tell everyone that Maria attacked him. If she takes him to the hospital or home, she'll probably lose her job. People always believe the kids, even the bad one. So what does she do? She shackles him to her basement floor. Her class thrives. Even Danny seems to accept his fate, being home-schooled by Maria."
Three star-studded films at TIFF wear their inspirations visibly: one channels Election's teacher-versus-student cynicism, another aligns with Ruben Ostlund's social satires, and a third evokes memory-erasure themes. Jonatan Etzler's Bad Apples is a dark comedy starring Saoirse Ronan as Maria, a single teacher at an elite private school overwhelmed by a persistently disruptive child named Danny. Bureaucratic constraints limit disciplinary options, prompting Maria to take extreme measures by shackling Danny in her basement and home-schooling him, which improves classroom dynamics. New unsettling behavior from another child introduces further complications and moral tension.
Read at Roger Ebert
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