Encounter with scene-stealing penguin
Director: Peter Cattaneo
(M) ★★★+
There was a story on RNZ last weekend about dogs' eyebrows; apparently, they've evolved to facilitate the manipulation of humans. To us, it looks like the canine is having a melancholic moment so we rush in with the affection and chewy treats. It's all projection.
A similar sort of thing plays out in The Penguin Lessons, a simultaneously charming and timely film, wherein various of the human characters project an empathy for their issues on to the inscrutable bird of the title.
Steve Coogan is a disengaged peripatetic English teacher, a spent force in the classroom, hired by an exclusive school in Argentina — just as the generals take power again in the 1976 coup.
He intends a quiet expat idyll but enter the scene-stealing penguin — and the regime's goons — and things turn out otherwise. Initially, Coogan's character saves the penguin, but could it be that, ultimately, it's the penguin doing the saving?
The Magellanic penguin, Juan Salvador, is in fact played by several penguins, and this is crucial.
Time and again the bird seems to be following the director's instructions to the letter. But as recorded by the Hollywood press, this was achieved as a result of the penguin breed's close couple bonding. When one of the pair on set was gently but strategically transported to the far end of a room, the other would soon waddle over. And, cut.
No doubt, a measure of patience was required of the human cast, and that seems to have spilled over into Cattaneo's (The Full Monty) storytelling, which is allowed to unfold in its own good time.
As the far right lunges for power in these the sunset years of the western hegemony, The Penguin Lessons does a nice job of revealing the grubby, fear-mongering ignorance of desperate authoritarianism, without labouring the point. There is, of course, no sophistication to uncover there.
So, both inside the gates of the school and outside, the regimes are all about demanding silence and subservience in the interests of the already powerful.
Coogan delivers a nicely understated performance as the world-weary teacher, while the supporting cast does its best to pinch the odd scene back from Juan Salvador. Bjorn Gustafsson is a hoot as a jilted Finnish science teacher and Vivian El Jaber is a trick as one of the school's housekeepers.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Otago Daily Times
a day ago
- Otago Daily Times
Escape the world into the shire
The game centres around the business of making hearty meals. Just when you thought the Lord of the Rings product train had run out of steam, Wētā Workshop has more, Bill Hickman writes. Wētā Workshop has released a new video game that allows players to build their own home in a Hobbit village in Middle Earth. Tales of the Shire is billed as a "cosy game" providing a calmer, more meditative experience than the frenetic pace of traditional video games. Players create Hobbit characters — from choosing the possessions that adorn their Hobbit-hole homes to selecting the extent of hair on their little feet. The Hobbit avatars move about in a picturesque Middle Earth world buffeted by seasonal winds and are guided by birds as they tend to their gardens, fish, cook and interact with other townsfolk. Wētā Workshop founder Sir Richard Taylor said as the world emerged from the height of the pandemic, it made sense to create a game that was a departure from the conflict and drama that fuelled much of the Lord of the Rings films. "Tolkien described The Shire as Warwickshire circa 1890 type of world. This is pastoral England, this is beautiful days of slashing down the corn in the fields and harvesting, making hearty meals for your family," Taylor said. He said the game's look was purposely designed to emphasise the beauty and calm of the idyllic setting that was home to the Hobbits. The Shire is pastoral England, Warwickshire circa 1890. "We wanted to create a wonderfully, painterly watercolour world so it felt like you were stepping into a living picture, dotted with trees and hobbit holes," Taylor said. Game studio director Tony Lawrence said, at its peak, 54 people collaborated on the game, working out of Wētā's Miramar workshop as well as from Italy, Australia and California. The game's creators were able to draw on the studio's 25 years of bringing Middle Earth to life to add authenticity to the settings and activities players encountered, he said. "If there's a question about Lord of the Rings we've quite a few experts just lurking around the place that can help us with anything. If we wanted to understand how a character might make a sword, having a master sword [maker] onsite is pretty good to come watch. They're the kind of things that you can't do anywhere else in any other studio," Lawrence said. Lawrence said the government's rebate for game developers was an important factor in helping Wētā take the time to develop the game's detail and depth. — RNZ
NZ Herald
2 days ago
- NZ Herald
Tom Hiddleston spotted in Queenstown during shoot of Tenzing film where he plays Sir Edmund Hillary
Hollywood actor Tom Hiddleston (centre carrying brown bag) is pictured at the staging area below The Remarkables for an upcoming film where he plays Sir Edmund Hillary. Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech. Already a subscriber? Sign in here Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen. Tom Hiddleston spotted in Queenstown during shoot of Tenzing film where he plays Sir Edmund Hillary Hollywood actor Tom Hiddleston (centre carrying brown bag) is pictured at the staging area below The Remarkables for an upcoming film where he plays Sir Edmund Hillary. English actor Tom Hiddleston has been spotted in Queenstown this week as he films a movie playing New Zealand's greatest mountaineer Sir Edmund Hillary. Hiddleston stars as the Kiwi legend in the biopic of Hillary's sherpa climbing companion Tenzing Norgay, who completed the world first summit of Mt Everest, with Hillary, in 1953. In the Herald exclusive photographs, taken near The Remarkables this week, Hiddleston is seen in cold weather gear with a bag slung around his shoulder. Staff unloading old style hiking equipment for the upcoming movie, near The Remarkables. Photo / Supplied Film crew are pictured offloading props and equipment, including old-style climbing gear, from helicopters.
NZ Herald
2 days ago
- NZ Herald
A word with the statues - what's on Cupid's mind at Versailles?
I asked Apollo a few obvious questions — who had put him there, what he represented — and received textbook answers, delivered in perfect English by a confident male voice. Then, spotting the pigeon still perched on Apollo's head, I opted for a bolder line of questioning: What if a pigeon took a toilet break on this peerless treasure? 'When pigeons show their affection on my chariot, it's hardly a grand moment. But the caretakers of Versailles are vigilant,' Apollo replied. 'They ensure I remain in shining condition, restoring my brilliance after such interruptions. So no lasting harm from those little birds!' Versailles, near Paris, receives 8.4 million visitors a year, according to France's Culture Ministry, more than any other French heritage site except the Louvre Museum. Yet 80% of them are international tourists, and their average age is 40. So the palace is engaging with OpenAI and other big tech companies with the hope of not just informing visitors but also luring audiences that are younger and more homegrown. (The New York Times filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against OpenAI for using published work without permission to train its artificial intelligence. OpenAI has denied those claims.) Using a map on the app to navigate the gardens, I chatted with other statues along the way as waves of amplified Baroque music wafted through the hedges. Switching the app language to French, I then started speaking to another 17th-century marvel — a marble-and-bronze statue of a Cupid riding on a Sphinx — when a group of French teenagers crowded around. I invited them to interrogate the Sphinx via my smartphone screen. 'Will I ever be rich?' asked a teenage boy. 'Ah, becoming rich is an enigma that even my Sphinx is unable to solve!' the statue replied. 'But remember: The source of true riches is, perhaps, love, which subdues all of life's enigmas.' 'Which team will win the Champions League?' asked another. 'Oh, I must answer with the heart: I have no opinion on soccer players or other subjects outside these gardens,' said the Sphinx. 'I invite you to admire the timeless beauty that surrounds us.' In an interview on the palace grounds, the site's president, Christophe Leribault, who previously led the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, said the OpenAI feature was a reliable educational aid. 'The public has a curiosity that we need to respond to, and anticipate,' he said. What visitors get from the AI experience is 'not a gadget, but an informed tool co-designed with our specialist teams which is artistically sound and doesn't say things that are meaningless.' Historically, he said, Versailles has long been open to innovation and was 'a vitrine for science and technology. It was important for any inventor to show the king their invention.' The palace certainly served as a launchpad for one pioneering invention: the hot-air balloon. Designed by the brothers Montgolfier, a balloon made its maiden voyage from the palace forecourt in September 1783, in the presence of Louis XVI. Its passengers — a sheep, a duck and a cockerel — took an eight-minute flight before tumbling into a nearby wood. (They were unharmed.) Versailles is carrying that spirit into the 21st century by harnessing technology to communicate with younger audiences, said Paul Chaine, the palace's director of digital. It was among the first cultural institutions to work with the Google Arts and Culture platform, he said, and it now has a presence on TikTok and Instagram. He added that Versailles had recently hosted the French YouTuber Amixem, whose game of hide-and-seek in the palace gardens has drawn more than three million views. 'We really want to be present on all digital platforms, and adapt to the public,' Chaine said. Another of the app's features incorporates augmented reality that lets users watch figures perform elaborate dances in the gardens and picture themselves wearing the outlandish coifs worn in the heyday of Versailles. Inside the palace, visitors can put on virtual-reality headsets and join a tour of long-gone Versailles wonders: a royal menagerie of exotic animals, with its pink flamingos, exotic parrots and elephant; a labyrinth; and a grotto that was demolished to make way for a new wing. Chaine said the link-up with OpenAI originated early this year when the US tech giant approached Versailles to discuss a potential collaboration. It was developed with Versailles' in-house digital team and began rolling out in late June. Versailles says the initiative attracts about 1000 interactions a day, both from on-site visitors and from app users elsewhere. Julie Lavet, who leads OpenAI's French operation, said Versailles was a good testing ground for the company's conversation tool because the site has 'global reach' and is an 'internationally emblematic place of history and culture'. This is not OpenAI's first collaboration with a cultural institution. Last year, it created a chatbot that allowed visitors to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York to converse with a simulation of the socialite Natalie Potter while viewing a display of her 1930s wedding gown. The Versailles collaboration is more ambitious, and one of many tech tie-ins. Might the royal palace be stretching itself too thin? 'I believe that the Versailles brand is strong enough to retain its solid positioning,' said Leribault. 'It may sound arrogant, but the reality is that we are not about to dissolve into the few experimentations that we do.' This article originally appeared in The New York Times. Written by: Farah Nayeri Photographs by: James Hill ©2025 THE NEW YORK TIMES
