November 18, 2008
Picks From The Vault: The Substitute
The Substitute
DENMARK (dir. Ole Bornedal, 2007)
The Substitute is a Danish horror film for children. Paprika Steen stars as Ulla who is the new substitute teacher for the sixth grade. She wants the kids to go to Paris for a competition, and all the parents love her. However something isn’t quite right: she’s mean and can read minds, control them even. There is only one solution: she’s an alien. The problem is no one believes the kids and the field trip is fast approaching.
This is one badass kids movie. First a caveat: this is not rated R for gory deaths or crazy alien sex. As far as I can tell its because the kids say fuck. Which I feel is appropriate because these are some highly stressed kids. I mean a Dogme 95 alum comes in and its obvious to you that she’s an alien but of course no adult will believe you. So yeah, fuck would be an appropriate word.
This is the grade school version of The Faculty. Bornedal brings humor and some actually good child acting, although it could just be that they suck and I thought they were good because I was watching subtitles. Also Steen is always good and really gets into her role as Ulla the alien substitute. The effects are good (not great but I see worse every week on the Sci-fi channel) and the movie never overstays its welcome. I’d even recommend this for kids, as long as you don’t mind the fucks, as it is not violent and kids will relate to the situation. I know I did.
So there you go. Rent this gem (I wouldn’t rush out to buy it) and enjoy until next week.
