The Ideal

I was fortunate enough to be invited to the screening of this movie. This movie is a definite character study in its extreme. All movies throw us in hypothetical situations and we imagine a solution with the characters in the movie. In the most suspenseful way this movie throws us into a situation of all teenagers' nightmare; How to deal with a broken heart. I hope I am teaching more than math in my class. I hope students are learning how to persevere and deal with difficult situation whether solving math or broken hearts. This is a movie that all schools around the world should have a screening with its students and have a discussion. Because I sincerely hope my students learn to deal with the situations depicted in the movie. The movie also shows what happens when you do not learn to deal with the situations. Go see it you must!

I gave it a five just because, it was creepy and weird. BUT if the setting had been in Germany, I would have gone higher. They find a book from Germany (haunted, I guess). How did it end up in the US, in a school, that would be more at home somewhere in the Britsh Isles? Or as a mental asylum in the US, in the early 1900's. Can't say much more without being a spoiler. I was confused.

"The Ideal" is a film whose atmosphere grabs you from the beginning. Wes Ciesla's use of the actual school he taught in with its Tudor details and secret nooks and crannies is the key to the movie. The high school itself becomes the main character as two teenagers, Julia and Alexander, explore its corners one summer, find strange people from the Custodian to a German teacher, and a pair of students who seem to be transformed into zombie like students. They find their history teacher, Mr. Z, has become obsessed with writing a history that frightens the students..As the summer goes on, the mystery deepens to its dramatic conclusion.

Come on! Who ever wrote that review is seriously lacking in viewer talent. That's right viewer talent! I give the viewer enough credit to understand good from bad. This movie had the potential to be good and the actors destroyed it. I never stop watching a movie once I start but I had to with this one..thats how bad the acting was. I have been acting for 20 years and am stoutly character and story driving in my tastes. The cinematography was great, i concede that, but the acting had absolutely no peaks and valleys, you don't care about the characters and what happens to them. Alas that is the whole point! When you have a story, yes, very much in the vein of the shining and very well shot in that respect as well, then put in a cast of characters you don't care about. Don't care if they live or die..you lose me and the audience. Look, when a story has an "unknown" entity lurking int the background, the characters MUST pick up the slack to heighten the storyline. They absolutely fail here. Please audience. Watch this film and tell me who's right!

To start with what i liked about this movie is that it was a unique story. I would imagine its hard to come up with a plot that hasn't been already done or similar to something that's already out there. The Ideal is neither. Also to learn that it was written by a student who was a junior at the high school it was filmed, Rivka Rappoport, also intrigued me. The imagination and vision of a young mind put to film. This is where the director Wes Tomasz Ciesla comes to play. He does an excellent job with the character development and changes that happens from the introduction of the characters to the end of the movie. Especially the relationship between student Alexander Dessler and his teacher Mr.Zenidro. This movie is hopefully the first of many films for the cast and crew. I look forward to see what Wes and Rivka's next project might be.