Film Review - The Penguin Lessons

Images courtesy of Madman Films.

The conflicting adaptation of Tom Michell’s memoir, The Penguin Lessons, swerves between a lighthearted comedy and political drama. The film fails to settle into an intended mood and somehow ends up  feeling cliché, despite telling a true story. Unfortunately, the film became an exaggerated depiction of a stereotypical ‘brooding grump’ who is changed by some animal - in this case a penguin - and comes to understand the joys of life again. It is such a shame that the adaptation fumbles an actually touching story that could have been so much more than what it was. 

The Penguin Lessons recounts the true events of Tom Michell, played by Steve Coogan, and how he ended up adopting a penguin. The penguin, dubbed Juan Salvador, enters the life of students and teachers at the boarding school Michell teaches at, and quickly becomes a beloved member of the community. The basis of the story has the bones for a strong feel-good movie that displays the importance of compassion, warming the hearts of audiences through the sheer ridiculousness of the bizarre companionship. However, the film attempts to cater to too many tastes, trying to capture comedy, drama and political resistance all within the two hour runtime. The result is a disjointed narrative that has pockets of decency, but the overall execution reduces the original story to a basic and mediocre retelling. 

Michell was teaching in Argentina in 1976, a very politically volatile time in the country’s history. The film does incorporate plotlines that outline the brutality and upheaval in Argentinian society, but it is undeveloped and quite performative. The scenes focused on informing the political context of the story offer little care to the very real terror that still affects Argentina today, opting to use that trauma to boost the protagonist’s redemption arc.

In saying this, there were genuinely artful moments within the film. The production design and cinematography created a cohesive and vibrant world that did match the content of the narrative. Additionally, Coogan delivers his usual dry humour in a masterful way that compliments the abnormal situation. Coogan and his hilarious dynamic with co-star Björn Gustafsson was genuinely the best part of the whole film, with snarky remarks from Coogan and the oblivious goofiness of Gustafsson creating a funny and entertaining relationship. 

Although the film was disappointing and at times insensitive to the political context of its narrative, there is something of substance in the amusing true story of a man adopting a penguin.

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The Penguin Lessons is screening in cinemas from Thursday the 17th of April. For tickets and more info, click here.