IMDb plot summary: A disillusioned Englishman who goes to work in a school in a divided Argentina in 1976 finds his life transformed when he rescues an orphaned penguin from the beach.
Directed by Peter Cattaneo. Stars Steve Coogan, Jonathan Pryce, and Bruno Blas.
The Penguin Lessons stars Steve Coogan as an English teacher during a time of political upheaval in Argentina in the 1970s. He is determined to stay out of it and not endanger himself or put himself on the line for any of what's going on, but his perspective changes when he ends up unintentionally adopting a penguin. This is the kind of film that I will admit is very unlikely to work for me. I do not tend to be moved by stories of people being pulled out of apathy by either pets or small children. There are just very few ways that I have ever seen that play out that feels compelling to me. This one doesn't quite work either. I admire the story trying to be told, and it is apparently based on a true story to some extent, but it's one of those stories that it is almost impossible to tell well for me. Once you introduce a cute animal into the mix, it just feels perpetually sappy -- and I fully admit this is a problem with me more so than with the movie, but it means that I'm not the right person to evaluate whether or not this film is actually good because all it does is make me kind of sigh and roll my eyes. If you have a similar reaction to stories in that vein, you probably won't love this either.
How it entered my Flickchart:
🎥 The Penguin Lessons (2025)
📊 Ranked #2547/4180 on my Flickchart
🎯 Flickscore™: 39
lost to Cypher (held at #2100)
beat Le Cercle Rouge (#3142 → #3143)
beat Jimmy the Kid (#2625 → #2626)
lost to The Blues Brothers (held at #2361)
lost to King Richard (held at #2493)
beat A Bridge Too Far (#2559 → #2560)
lost to The Mistress of Spices (held at #2525)
lost to Melinda and Melinda (held at #2543)
beat Ice Princess (#2551 → #2552)
beat The Asphalt Jungle (#2547 → #2548)
lost to Son of Rambow (held at #2545)
lost to I'm Not Rappaport (held at #2546)
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