Description
Kindergarten 1989
1h 19min | Drama, Romance
Critic:
Banned in Argentina for 20 years due to nude content involving minors, and thought to be lost. This impenetrably metaphoric and surreal movie by Jorge Polaco portrays a family in trouble. The father has a lover who physically worships him and walks around with pubic hair in different colors, the step-mom is depressed, breaks out in manic emotions and causes her husband to panic and order her repeatedly to open her eyes or to stop her outbursts. She also has a mentally handicapped big brother and an unhealthy phsyical and emotionally tense relationship with her step-son, a young boy who also walks around naked in some scenes. There are recurring themes of difficult relationships with dead or disabled ancestors, including a mummified grandfather whom they keep and abuse in the basement, an alluded car accident that haunts them, and a dotty grandmother who seems preoccupied with objects, as well as many busts and paintings of relatives. Other themes include a nursery of children or animals playing, and games between the father and his lover, and in-between, a strange symbolic character appears to give popcorn or chickens to the children. The film is mostly a series of emotional or playful interactions and raw outbursts between the characters, sometimes reminiscent of Zulawski, except that it is very static and doesn’t develop. This, together with the fact that the movie is not enjoyable on its own terms without its hidden meaning, made me derive no pleasure from it.
Director: Jorge Polaco
Writers: Asher Benatar (novel), Daniel González Valtueña
Stars: Graciela Borges, Arturo Puig, Luisa Vehil
Country: Argentina
Language: Spanish
René (verified owner) –
Everything that happens in this film is a metaphor. So the title “Kindergarten” too. The filmmakers have looked closely at the imaginative cheerfulness that is present in some Fellini films. Sometimes certain things are depicted quite literally. A little boy, who occasionally frolics through the film, may come out of the closet for that occasion and must return to the closet later (which turns out not to be a closet). Later the boy can be seen again, caged and well. It’s all about metaphors, not a logical story. The lack of English subtitles is not a loss.
Paul (verified owner) –
Interesting movie, subtitles would be nice but when you can’t get them you can’t get them.
James (verified owner) –
Anonymous (verified owner) –
Excellent DVD
warren smith (verified owner) –
I have not recieved my order
Anonymous (verified owner) –
Jason B. (verified owner) –
bryan gardner (verified owner) –
steve (verified owner) –
john young (verified owner) –
Bizarre in the extreme. Artistic. Subtitles made no sense.
dale (verified owner) –
I’m glad for the subtitles I understood the movie completely and I’ll never understand why it was banned in Argentina it’s quite tame not sexual at all strange movie but great subliminal messages
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