I reviewed Peter Cattaneo’s “The Penguin Lessons” for Neil Rosen’s PBS show, “Talking Pictures” and raved about it. (Should air in about 10 days.)
The extremely charming and well made film stars Steve Coogan, Jonathan Pryce, and an actual penguin. The latter may actually be up for Best Supporting Actor.
“Penguin Lessons” is released today, and if you’re an adult who’d like to see a real film with great charm, with nothing that will embarrass you or your companion, head to a theater immediately.
I’m warning you: this is a genteel film. No one flies around with a cape. There is no violence. Or sex, particularly.
Cattaneo based the movie on a memoir by Tom Michell published in 2016. It’s the true story of how Michell, an itinerant English teacher, arrived in politically savage Buenos Aires in 1976 at a posh boy’s school.
Coogan is 59 now, Michell was 24 when this happened to him. No big deal. In the film, Coogan is disillusioned with life. His child has died. The world is at war in many places but he is blissfully ignorant.
The class he’s assigned to is a little like the “Dead Poet’s Society.” But Cattaneo downplays that, and focuses on what happened to Michell. He rescues a penguin from an oil slick and brings him back to his apartment. For real. This is not CGI. The penguin, who plays right to the camera, becomes Michell’s best friend.
The movie has overtones of “Babe” and “Born Free.” Don’t call PETA. The penguin — not to be confused with Batman’s Penguin — has a great time. Michell named him Juan Salvador Gaviota and he’s never in danger of any kind. He has a better rider on his contract than John Travolta in his heyday.
Jonathan Pryce is the crusty headmaster who eventually winds up having conversations with Juan Salvador. There’s a subplot about a school maid and her granddaughter. The latter is abducted by the Argentinian police and returns unscathed. That is the movie’s biggest leap. But since a penguin is acting in this movie, already your sense of reality has been stretched.
Coogan is a delight, as always, and the perfect sort of detached personality who gives the film some gravitas. Michell is not keeping the penguin because of some zealotry. He wants to give it to the local zoo, but it’s very rundown and would kill Juan Salvador’s soul. Meantime, the bird eats like crazy and defecates all over the apartment. Several people comment on the smell.
No Oscars here, but a real relief from the daily pain of the news. Very recommended.
PS My colleague, Bill McCuddy, jokes: “If the penguin does go to the Oscars, what will he wear?” A ‘penguin suit’ would be redundant!
