Submission

Jtncsmistad provided a great review. Please do take a look at it.

To add my thoughts I am a fan of Tucci, Sedgwick, and Garofalo. The first half of the movie held my interest and I thought they all gave great performances but the second half of the movie unfortunately was very predictable. I don't mind predictable with an interesting story but in this case even great acting did not save the story.

Worth a watch and definitely watch if you are a teacher.

The lines between a semi-successful, middle-aged novelist/professor and his student are crossed: lines of deceit, intimacy and manipulation. It's a #metoo movement highlighter with the good ol' cliche storyline of a student/teacher relationship and touches on the depths that some will go for success. "Submission" is a slow roller coaster ride of emotions and mild surprises. There is no drop and no climax so if a slow ride is what you desire, press play.

The games are dirty and the stakes are high in the new drama "Submission". Stanley Tucci (sporting a toupee that doesn't look half-bad) is as solid as ever as Ted Swenson, a dispirited college English lit professor in desperate search of a follow-up to a successful debut novel. Addison Timlin is Angela Argo, an admiring and enigmatic student who persuades her prof to critique chapters of her own go at a book. At first Angela projects as timid and unsure of herself and her craft with Ted. But we watch as she transforms from a seemingly scattered coed into a poised and purposeful young woman, and all the while shrewdly laser-focused on a prize she covets above all else.

As the mentorship develops matters inevitably become increasingly complicated between teacher and student. Eventually the relationship makes a volatile shift from nurturing common bond to flashpoint cataclysmic intimacy. Screenplay writer and director Richard Levine presents a dynamic in which it becomes increasingly difficult to discern who is in fact playing whom in the quest for literary fame and fortune.

The supporting cast are quite good across the board in "Submission". The multi-gifted Janeane Garofalo-one of my all-time faves-brings a sense of humor and pathos to the story as Magda, professional cohort and personal confidante of Ted who must help determine a wrenching verdict regarding her friend late in the film. The routinely reliable Kyra Sedgwick makes an impression as Sherrie, a dutifully supportive working wife who has her comfy world shaken upside down in the wake of devastating disclosure. The pivotal restaurant dinner scene between husband and wife is powerful stuff from both of these pros. But it is Sedgwick's performance in particular that infuses these emotionally jarring moments with searing sorrow and strength.

"Submission" opens in New York City on March 2 and in Los Angeles along with other markets nationwide March 9.

1. The portrayal of the post secondary "academic community" (in quotes for a reason) was so stereotypically artificial from the parties to the discourse to the mannerisms that it provoked me to write this wearing tweed; smoking a pipe & drinking from my Bordeaux glass or is it a Burgundy glass? 2. The abrasive part of the teaching style was simply made up as were the constant "air quotes". 3. Some viewers condemned the prof for taking advantage - get human & real! 4. The family turmoil from an affair, and the spurious academic committee review seemed too "made-up". 5. Ending had a cheap cute cleverness that fit w/the rest of the movie.

Despite strong performances and good direction this film fizzles out and leaves you disappointed with too many unanswered questions.