For most of the 1 1/2 hours of this film I couldn't stand it. Then the story starts concentrating on the two main characters and it becomes worthwhile. By now you get the general picture-two teachers in a New England prep school (Located somewhere in British Columbia) find it worthwhile to set up a school-wide competition between spoken word and visual art, and that tension sparks a surge of creativity in the school and a relationship between the two teachers. Unfortunately, even with two good actors in the lead roles, things don't really start to happen until the film is about 2/3 over, when the art teacher. played by Juliette Binoche, reveals a new painting, an abstract, that blows away the competition. But getting to that point requires a slog through overstated, unbelievable interactions between teacher and student and student-student. Example: the best art student, an Asian-American girl, is constantly hassled by a privileged, tone-deaf young man who makes a complete ass of himself essentially stalking her on campus every day, and at the top of his lungs. The young woman is shy and lacks self-confidence, but skilled enough to draw the attention of the art teacher. Her tormentor is obnoxious enough to be spotted from a police helicopter, and yet never seems to come to the attention of the faculty or administration until he does something truly unforgivable. By the same token, the Asian-American artist, supposedly shy and un-self-confident, is quite able to tell him off loudly and in public more than once during the film. The unconvincing subplots kept the whole film at arm's length for me until the two main characters started to click.
Review of Words and Pictures
