COMIC DRAMA; 1hr 40min
STARRING: Steve Coogan, Jonathan Pryce
Class action Coogan and co-star
Jaded Brit Tom Michell (Coogan) arrives in the politically combustible Argentina of 1976 expecting a cushy ride as an English teacher at prestigious boys’ school St George’s College (Pryce is a class act as its toffy headmaster). Hmm. Within minutes, Tom has lost control of his adolescent class, which concerns him about as much as anything and everything else. And then, wouldn’t you know it, along comes a transformative find in the roly-poly shape of a Magellanic penguin, washed up oil-clogged on a beach.
Tom rescues the bird solely to impress a woman (Vivian El Jaber) with whom he wants to sleep, then when that doesn’t happen, attempts to toss him back into the sea. Good luck with that! The penguin has taken a shine to his new friend-in-need and, what with one thing and another ridiculous thing, man and bird, now christened Juan Salvador, are an unlikely item.
As Tom Michell, on whose 2015 memoir this valentine is based, Coogan wears despondency like a favourite tweed jacket. For his waddling part, Juan Salvador is the star of every scene, winning the collective hearts of the entire college, where technically he isn’t supposed to be in the first place, while radiating an artless lovability that director Peter Cattaneo (The Full Monty) is happy to run with. The deprivations of a military dictatorship and the personal loss that have bruised Tom’s psyche are each given their due as big, serious deals by co-screenwriters Jeff Pope and Michell. But that batty little bird is the real game changer.
