Title: Chalk Director: Mike Akel Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Studio: Somedaysoon Pictures Genre(s): Comedy Rated:       (For language)   Buy From Amazon.com: Soundtrack / Novel

CONSUMER ADVICE

Parents don't have much to worry about. In fact, if you've been brought to a teacher meeting or two, maybe you should force them to watch this. Recommended for ages 7 and up.

“Chalk” is a very interesting experiment and nothing more. When renting this movie I thought it was a documentary on high school teachers and the hell they go through to teach kids. They are overworked, underpaid, and usually not respected. I myself do not have much respect for the school system, and feel that most schooling is expendable at best. Watching this movie I felt like it WAS a documentary! Teachers get into problems that seem very realistic, there are moments with the students that make you feel that the teachers are being completely undermined, and for awhile it’s facinating. Then there was a fantasy sequence in the middle of the film that haulted me. It’s moment where two teachers walk down the hall, look at each other, and then dance with each other to classical music and warped background lights.

After that I started paying more attention to the film, noticing there were far too many camera angels for this to be a real documentary. For the last half of the film I watched it with a skeptical eye, and walked away feeling the documentary was fake. Indeed, it is a fake documentary. “Chalk” is actually a mockumentary that follows three teachers lives: One new teacher, one experienced teacher, and one nice teacher. Oh, and an Assistant Principle. There is very little in the way of an actual storyline, and while the movie itself is a dramatization, I hear this movie was mostly improvised, with the director settling on ninety minutes of footage to include from a stockpile of sixty hours worth of film. Technically speaking this movie is a technical achievement, one that deserves an Oscar for Best Editing.

The problem I have with the film is that it is fake. It also doesn’t really have anything to say about the school system. One teacher comes off as incompetent, and we actually side with the students who mock him. Once I knew the movie was a fabrication, the whole affair came off as pointless. This isn’t a real school we’re seeing, so there is ultimately no point to be made. Likewise the story is so thin that there is nothing to be entertained by. It just made me so frustrated at the end of the day. While the movie earns some extra points for it’s brilliant editing and movie wizardry, the movie is overall a waste of time and you’d be better off doing something more productive. Like, say, your homework.