AMERICA – Review

AMERICA, despite the title, is not set in the U.S. nor is it about America, Instead, it is a deeply human, moving, emotionally complex, intelligent Israeli drama an Israeli man who has lived in America for decades but returns after the death of his long-estranged father, to deal with the estate, and reconnects with some people from his past. Human relationships, and a different take on a love triangle, as the center of the fine drama/romance AMERICA, from the director of the international hit THE CAKEMAKER. Israeli writer/director Ofir Raul Graizer helmed both that excellent German drama and this new this Hebrew-language drama/romance, which feels like a kind of sequel in its similar emotional, poignant style.

AMERICA centers on an Israeli-born man, Eli (Michael Moshonov), who has lived in Chicago for ten years, since leaving Israel as a teenager. A one-time swimming champion, Eli now has made a life for himself in America as a swimming instructor, with no intention to even return to Israel, even changing his name to leave his past behind, But Eli is reluctantly compelled to return to Israel, in order to sort out the estate of his late father, from whom he was long estranged. The swimmer only intends to stay long enough to sell his father’s house in Tel Aviv and therefore settle the estate.

At his old house, Eli runs into an old neighbor by chance, Moti (Moni Moshonov), who is very glad to see him. The swimming instruction is pleased as well to see Moti, who was kind and even a kind of father-figure to Eli as a boy after his mother died and the boy struggled in his difficult relationship with his police chief father. The chance meeting leads Eli to reconnect with Moti’s son Yotam (Ofri Biterman), a childhood friend who shared his love of swimming, and to meet his friend’s fiancee, Iris (Oshrat Ingedashet), who has a flower shop in Jaffa which she runs with Yotam. Yotam no longer swims but helps Iris run her flower shop. Iris is estranged from her strict Moroccan family, much like Eli is estranged from his.

We catch a frisson of attraction between Eli and Iris but of course neither acts on it because of Yotam. A tragic accident changes everybody’s plans, creating a complicated situation for everyone.

Director Graizer uses beautiful, evocative locations and settings to deepen scenes and add to character. The flower shop that Iris runs is crowded with colorful blooms and green foliage, offering a lush, even sensual, setting around which much of the drama unfolds. It seems to symbolize life, and the setting particularly wrapping Iris in beauty and vibrant life. In one scene, the old friends drive out to remote location, a favorite swimming hole of their youth, and take a long trek through difficult, dry terrain to arrive at a beautiful waterfall and idyllic pool of water beneath it.

Like THE CAKEMAKER, the story is layered with details that gives it the feel of reality, and the people in it are complex in the way real people are. That depth of detail and layered character makes the film intriguing as well as unpredictable. We can guess some things that happen but we never know when some new twist, some surprise – good or bad – is lurking around the next corner. The sense of reality unfolding gives the film a kind of tension but also makes the characters wholly believable. We can’t resist being drawn into the lives of these interesting people.

The fine script is further boosted by an excellent cast, who create people we like, even if we don’t understand everything about them. As the story unfolds, dilemmas arise and complex ethical choices face them. The characters are forced to make choices, where the right path isn’t always clear.

This excellent drama is a follow-up, in a way, to the director’s previous one, THE CAKE MAKER, a hit film that also had complicated people in complicated situations with a romantic theme, but people we pull for. The script in both these films is superb, as is the work of the cast. This is the kind of intelligent, human storytelling fans of serious drama long for, yet AMERICA, like its predecessor, also delivers as an entertaining film.

AMERICA opened Friday, July 4, in select theaters and expands to additional cities on Friday, August 2.

RATING: 4 out of 4 stars