Diego Lerman’s film fails to make an impact with the crime/thriller aspects of it, but as a drama film in the classroom, I quite enjoyed it.

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | Jul 8, 2024

... Persuasive and watchable, but rather nondescript.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Mar 2, 2023

Although Lerman's direction is efficient and vigorous, various subplots do not fully come to fruition, leaving loose ends for some ultimately irrelevant sentimental matters. [Full review in Spanish]

| Feb 24, 2023

A sincere and empathetic story about the importance of education and the constant fight to prevent it from being a privilege for just a few. [Full Review in Spanish]

| Original Score: 3/4 | Feb 23, 2023

Predictably enough, this is met with boredom and active disinterest, but there's a lot that the movie gets right; namely, that when it's done right, the teacher learns as much as the students.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 15, 2023

Working with seasoned actors supported by non-professional adolescents, the director combines the personal with the communal and balances the incisive social commentary with the existential conflict of a middle-aged man... [Full review in Spanish]

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jan 31, 2023

... One of those films that belongs to the students and professor movie sub-genre. Nonetheless, here, the image, the music, the camera moves, and the rhythm, amongst other elements, make this film commendable. [Full review in Spanish]

| Jan 28, 2023

The plot's wrinkles and connections feel more than a little predictable and tidy, but director Diego Lerman keeps the tone grounded and authentic, which makes it riveting.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jan 24, 2023

Much of The Substitute’s vivid realism and immediacy as a moment-to-moment experience owes to the Polish cinematographer Wojciech Staron’s darting hand-held cinematography.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jan 23, 2023

During insistent and obvious moments, The Substitute seems to ignore developing any of the themes it proposes. [Full review in Spanish]

| Jan 21, 2023

While we cover familiar territory, this gritty, sharply written Argentinian drama takes us on some very interesting detours.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jan 20, 2023

It’s Lerman’s shooting style which makes the biggest impression.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jan 20, 2023

Intriguing, but would work better if the viewer was slightly less confused than Lucio.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jan 19, 2023

A rather tiring school day.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Jan 17, 2023

The originality of Lerman's film lies in approaching the story of a novice teacher in a violent district from an Ibero-American perspective, which has seldom treated the subject matter. [Full review in Spanish]

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jan 13, 2023

Lerman has composed a film that's simultaneously popular and arthouse. [Full review in Spanish]

| Jan 13, 2023

The substitute embraces from the beginning the stigmas of teacher cinema... therein lies its value, finding its own suggestive identity despite repeating conventions. [Full review in Spanish]

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jan 9, 2023

Like his protagonist, Lerman looks at this world with a genuine desire of belonging and invites the audience along. [Full review in Spanish]

| Original Score: 4/5 | Oct 20, 2022

Lerman and co-writers María Meira and Luciana De Mello build tension steadily. And as the end nears, we watch with sweaty palms. [Full review in Spanish]

| Original Score: 4/4 | Oct 20, 2022

An honest film that strips the layers in order to find the truth with integrity, incapable of judging its characters. [Full review in Spanish]

| Original Score: 8/10 | Oct 18, 2022