The Lesson (2015)

Fresh and Exciting

Best movie ever!

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

I stumbled upon this film by chance and thought i'd watch it out of interest - so had no expectations generated by reviews etc.It was disappointing from the moment it started. Technically, it was mediocre to say the least. I felt as though no thought had gone into setting up the scenes, the lighting, or the relevance of shots to what was taking place. Someone could have done the same thing with a cheap camera phone - and this was much the same throughout this film. It was as though it had been made to some formula rather than any artistry.The story could have been a good tale to tell, but was let down by either the script or editing which produced a disjointed feeling between shots, with both over-emphasis and lack of emphasis in certain shots that could have made the film bearable.In the end I was glad it had finished.

This movie should be called, the torture of the audience.The teacher instead of torturing the students, whom he torture went to the audience.Another point of the film is that, the one who should have paid they did not pay like they suppose to..I do not recommend this trash, but that is on you.You want to waste your time be my guest

The Lesson isn't sure what it wants to be - an indie love story mixed with horror, a micro budget revenge movie. This is its main problem - it is a bit schizophrenic in terms of is genre - hardcore horror fans might not like it, as not gory enough, indie film fans might find it not art-house enough, and then there's the fact that the bulk of the rant of the main character is hard to stomach in places. But the wit and intelligence of the script shines through, and the film keeps you teetering between two moral standpoints quite effectively.There are some really nicely observed moments placed throughout the film, like the flashbacks where the relationship between boy and mother is drawn out, and the subtle emotional abuse that the main female character is subjected to which leads to quite a gratifying and blackly funny twist at the end, for those with the patience to see it through.

If Ken Loach had ever produced a horror film, it would have looked very much like 'The Lesson'. This is a hugely thought provoking film whose portrayal of horror goes so much further and deeper than the scenes of violence. The film is firmly grounded in the real world, our world, with real people dealing with real issues. For the hard core chain saw massacre viewer, the film may take a while to get to the 'horror' scenes - but for me, the horror started from the moment the film began as we witness the appalling way people treat each other and how horrifically society fails them. Ultimately it is hard to say who is the monster and who the victim- in fact the most stomach churning scenes for me involved the domestic violence. Having said that Robert Hands is outstanding as the teacher. His mercurial performance is totally empathetic and mesmeric - at one moment terrifying , the next pathetic. Sign of a great film for me is that it makes you think as you watch it, it makes you think as you discuss it afterwards and it is still making you think days later. This film does that with knobs on.