‘Bad Apples’ Review: Saoirse Ronan In Very Black Comedy About A Teacher Who Holds An Unruly 10 Year Old Student Captive In Her Basement – Toronto Film Festival
Not knowing a thing about the new film, Bad Apples which is having its World Premiere at the Toronto Film Festival, it took me a while to realize ‘oh wait, this is really a very, very dark comedy’. So once I got what director Jonathan Etzler and writer Jess O’ Kane were up to, I could more comfortably go with a premise that is so out there in terms of credibility I could relax and actually laugh at the absurdity of it all.
It all starts innocently enough, especially if you’ve seen the number of school-based movies as I have, so many of them highlighted with warlike confrontations between teacher and student(s) (ie Blackboard Jungle, Up The Down Staircase, Lean On Me, etc etc). Thus when this well-meaning educator, Marie (Saoirse Ronan) attempts to keep her class under control and engaged while giving a lesson in the deep meaning of lyrics to Ricki Lee Jones’ “On Saturday Afternoons In 1963” , I wasn’t shocked that it failed to hold their attention. But when one of the 10 years in the class, Danny (Eddie Waller) starts disrupting the proceedings, throwing things, and generally creating pure mayhem, I just thought why don’t they lock this kid up and throw away the key?
When that actually happens a bit later in the film, in even more hard-to-fathom circumstances. I finally realized this is supposed to be funnyand eventually it kicks in. Before that seminal moment however, Danny goes full terrorist even to the point of attacking and breaking the arm of another student, Pauline (Nia Brown). Nevertheless good teacher that Marie is , she actually tries to help this kid, first pleading with his reluctant and absent working single dad Josh (Robert Emms) who is too busy to even hear about it, although you just know this is a guy who has brushed off complaints about his son before. But then, during a rainstorm, Marie tries to – figuratively – rope Danny like a wild horse, resulting in a knock down drag out fight, and then putting him in the back of her car before speeding away. In no time they are at her house and, impulsively making a very bad judgment, she locks the kid away in her basement.
In a sane world she would have done something about getting him back to his own home and alerting the school authorities and his father, but this is not what she does. Instead Danny is a captive in her home, for days into weeks. His absence goes from a missing person to one presumed kidnapped, but no one seems to have a clue. Meanwhile Marie takes decent care of him as he is held prisoner, even eventually playing his beloved video games and having reasonable conversations. At the same time as these weeks go by there are passionate school meetings she attends where the mystery of Danny’s disappearance is topic #1 with the school leadership, with the other parents, with Josh, you name it, but she doesn’t say a thing. Soon parents are suddenly thrilled, as is she, that her class is improving noticeably, grades are going up up up, and things are better than ever. Marie realizes Danny was the roadblock so why give up the goose? She’s now a star teacher! Potential trouble arises when the wily victim of Danny’s, Pauline starts snooping around the house, hears Danny’s voice, and starts to bargain for her silence. Oh yeah, things get, uh, complicated – and funnier if you go with it.
Ronan, never known for playing comedy, especially one as dark as this, perfectly underplays her new status which is why it works. If Marie were over the top the whole cookie would crumble, but Ronan is too good an actress to let that happen and she has the comic chops. She is well matched with Waller who was a real find by casting director Fiona Weir in the north of England and had never acted. He’s a natural, especially as a kid with pent up frustration with the world around him, a kid who needs understanding and compassion but doesn’t get it in a society that just thinks the best thing is to make him go away. Brown as the crafty Pauline is the true scene stealer, negotiating terms of terror herself. The funniest bit was when she forces Marie to let her endlessly sing every verse of her miserable holiday song in front of a parents meeting. LOL.
The Swedish Etzler, a former student academy award winner, lets the dark tone of this all, and especially its absurd nature, shine through right to the pitch perfect ending.
Bad Apples comes from Paramount subsidiary Republic Pictures and is looking for distribution, much the same way the Oscar nominated September 5 was last season before Paramount came to their senses and released it themselves after much film festival praise told them what they had. We shall see what happens with the very deserving Bad Apples.
Producer is Oskar Pimlott
Title: Bad Apples
Festival: Toronto Film Festival (Special Presentations)
Sales Agent: Republic Pictures
Director: Jonathan Etzler
Screenplay: Jess O’Kane
Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Eddie Waller, Nia Brown, Jacob Anderson, Rakie Ayola, Robert Emms, and Sean Gilder
Running Time: 100 Minutes
