Israeli – We Are Movie Geeks

“Queens: Season 1” – TV Series Review

*The cast of the Israeli TV series “Queens,” Season 1, on MHz Choice*

The extent to which you may enjoy the Israeli TV series “Queens: Season 1″ depends on expectations from its Mafia-esque premise. All the men in one of the country’s crime families are killed at the beginning, except for one overlooked child, who may or may not have seen the shooter(s). The wives and daughters find themselves on the brink of losing all the wealth and power their husbands oversaw when rival families swoop in claiming debts to be honored and businesses to snatch from them. The women decide to defend their turf and family honor by trying to do what their men had done in running their illegal businesses.

For American audiences, the first analog that comes to mind is “The Sopranos,” with infighting among competing families and ambitious underlings. The closer comparison might be with “Queen of the South,” which some strong, determined women struggle to become drug cartel bosses against a variety of male obstacles. To get into this one, forget about those. The tone is significantly tamer.

First of all, “Queens” is considerably less violent and sexy than either of those domestic counterparts. There’s plenty of menace and moments of brutality but well short of the others’ body counts or displays of carnage. The other is that these women are truly feckless at succeeding their husbands, sons and brothers, resulting in their taking far more punishment than they dish out. For about half of the 11 hour-long episodes, they’re getting pummeled and losing territory, without getting their act together. There’s suspense in learning who was behind the mass execution of their men, and whether that surviving child will be another target or the key to ID-ing the perp(s). Suspects abound. Fortunately, the women’s lot shows more signs of hope emerging in the second half of the season.

Among the protagonists we meet a diverse group of characters contributing fine performances, and a handful of particularly dastardly villains to create the requisite tensions. The matriarchal widow, Dori (Rita – the Israeli actress goes by that one name, like Cher), is rather strident and overbearing in her desperation to assert control and normalize their situation. Her daughter, Lizi (Dana Igvy), seems like the only one tough and focused enough to get them back to an acceptable position among their underworld colleagues and rivals. Others also have interesting story arcs, including a few surprises that maintain viewers’ interest.

So once you gear down for less adrenaline boosting than our series mentioned above, you wind up with an action and character drama that works pretty well. The bad news is that Season 1 ends on several cliffhanger plot points of unanswered questions and unresolved issues. The good news is that Season 2 already has aired in Israel, and will be released for streaming here within the next few months.

“Queens: Season 1,” mostly in Hebrew with English subtitles, streams on MHz Choice starting on Sept. 19.

RATING: 1.5 out of 4 stars

Israeli TV series “Queens” on MHz Choice

HERE WE ARE – Review

The soundtrack to Charlie Chaplin’s THE KID opens the father-son tale HERE WE ARE, award-winning Israeli director Nir Bergman’s heart-warming, insightful drama about a father’s devotion to his son, who is on the autism spectrum. Dad Aharon (Shai Avivi) willingly gave up his successful career as an artist to care for his son Uri (Noam Imber). The two are very close and have built a life of reassuring routine that involves Chaplin’s film about a father and son, trips on the train, bike rides, and pasta stars for lunch. But Uri is a young adult now and Aharon’s ex-wife, Uri’s mother, Tamara (Smadar Wolfman), thinks it is time for him to move to a group home with other young people with autism. Tamara supports father and son financially and, further, a judge agrees with her and there is a court-order that allows her to move her son to the nice facility she has picked out.

Aharon resists, insisting Uri is not ready, but eventually he is resigned to the move. The day of the move, Aharon and Uri take one of their train outings in the morning but when time comes to go home and get ready to move, Uri has a melt down and refuses to get on the train. Aharon makes a snap decision to go on the run with Uri, convinced his son is not ready for the change.

The journey takes them through several locations, a road trip that proves to be an eye-opening experience, revealing strengths and limitations of both father and son, aspects obscured before in their quiet routine. Bergman’s beautifully constructed film uncovers these details in masterful style but the power of the film finally rests on the two wonderful performances at the story’s center. Both Shai Avivi as Aharon and Noam Imber as Uri are outstanding, flawlessly portraying nuances of the characters and their close relationship. Bergman brilliantly uses the Chaplin film as a touchstone, another story of a close father and son fleeing the authorities, evoking it through the recurring music and clips and moments in the story.

The film gives a touching and realistic view of the challenges of autism and Noam Imber’s performance shows us a young man who is his own person, not just his diagnosis. Shai Avivi’s performance as the father is moving, touching, filled with love and commitment to his son, and doing what is best for him.

HERE WE ARE is a wonderful, moving film experience, one well worth seeking out. Director Nir Bergman, and actors Noam Imber and Shai Avivi all won Ophir Awards, Israel’s version of the Oscar, three of the four this Israeli-Italian drama won. This human drama touches our hearts, but also offers an honest portrait and true insights on their experience, until the story reaches its satisfying conclusion.

HERE WE ARE is part of the virtual St. Louis Jewish Film Festival 2021, which starts Sunday, June 6, and runs through Sunday, June 13. Tickets are $14 per film, or an All-Access Pass for all 13 festival films, plus a bonus short, is $95. Tickets and passes give viewing access to all members of a household. All films and discussions can be viewed anytime during the festival, except for BREAKING BREAD, which is only available June 6-8. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit the festival website at stljewishfilmfestival.org.

RATING: 4 out of 4 stars

BREAKING BREAD – JFF Review

The Israeli documentary BREAKING BREAD, which is part of the St. Louis Jewish Film Festival, June 5-13, begins with a quote from Anthony Bourdain, “Food may not be the answer to world peace, but it’s a start.”

“Breaking bread,” or sharing a meal, has been a way to bring people together throughout time. This documentary focuses on a unique food festival in Haifa, Israel, which aims to bring together Jewish Israelis and Muslim Arabs over food. The festival was founded by Dr. Nof Atamna-Ismaeel, a woman who was the first Muslim Arab to win Israel’s Top Chef contest. The food festival she founded pairs Jewish and Arab chefs to cook traditional fare from the Levant, the area that includes Israel, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Palestine. The festival is called the “A-sham Food Festival,” using the Arab term for the Levant, and diners wander through 35 restaurants, sampling traditional Arab dishes on the area. Atamna-Ismaeel chooses less-common Arab dishes from the area, rather than familiar ones, to entice Arab as well as Jewish diners to try them. The idea is to bring people together over something delicious, and focus on the person, not politics or religion.

BREAKING BREAD is a film hope-filled, engrossing film, that is packed with mouth-watering shots of food and entertaining personalities, showcasing the surprising diversity of views and peoples in Israel. But it is really about more than food, it is about crossing cultural divides through cooking – and enjoying delicious dishes. The documentary focuses Nof Atamna-Ismaeel herself, who explains her reasons for founding the festival, and on three sets of chefs, in this case three Arab chefs in the restaurants of three Jewish chefs, as they figure out how to prepare these dishes and build friendships, all culminating the the festival. The documentary covers more than food, and is divided into sections where the participants discuss such topics as variations in dishes, such as hummus and a chopped salad that some menus call “Arab salad” and others call “Israeli salad,” language barriers, cultural differences, and inevitably, politics.

Note that the documentary says Arab, not Palestinian, because some of the Muslim chefs are not Palestinian but from other Arab countries. It is part of the diversity the film highlights, which is true of the Jewish side as well. One restaurant owner is third-generation in his family restaurant, which serves traditional Jewish dishes of Europe. Others serves cutting-edge new Israeli cuisine. Another restaurant is owned by a husband and wife team, where he is Muslim and she is Jewish.

One of the things Atamna-Ismaeel and others in the documentary note is that the area around Haifa is different than Jerusalem and other areas of Israel, in that Jewish Israeli and Arab Muslims live in closer proximity and have more interactions, which makes it easier for this festival. Atamna-Ismaeel herself is an Israeli citizen, and speaks both Arabic and Hebrew, something she wishes both sides did more often.

BREAKING BREAD is a wonderful film, filled with surprising insights on the cultures of the region, packed with delightful, interesting people determined to bridge the divide between them, and mouth-watering dishes that seem to waft off the screen. All come together to bring people to together to break bread in hope of peace.

The St. Louis Jewish Film Festival 2021 is being held virtually again this year, and while it runs Sunday, June 6, and runs through Sunday, June 13, BREAKING BREAD is only available to view June 6-8. Tickets are $14 per film, or an All-Access Pass for all 13 festival films, plus a bonus short, is $95. Tickets and passes give viewing access to all members of a household. All other films and discussions can be viewed anytime during the festival but some have geographical limits, so check the festival program or website if you are outside of Missouri or Illinois. For more information, or to purchase tickets, visit the festival website at stljewishfilmfestival.org.

RATING: 4 out of 4 stars

INCITEMENT – Review

*Yehuda Nahari Halevi as Yigal Amir, in the tense Israeli historical political thriller INCITEMENT. Photo credit: Zachary Martin Courtesy of Greenwich*

What makes a person move from extremist views to violence is the subject of Yaron Zilberman’s INCITEMENT. Specifically, Zilberman’s unsettling drama/thriller traces the journey of the young far-right Jewish man who assassinated Israel’s Prime Minsiter Yitzak Rabin, an event that altered the direction of Israeli politics and put an end to the Oslo peace accord and its prospect for peace with the Palestinians.

This gripping, harrowing thriller earned an Ophir, the Israeli equivalent of the Oscar, for best film as well as one for best casting, and a nomination for the tour-de-force performance of its young lead actor. Despite the awards, the historical drama has sparked controversy in Israel.

When President Bill Clinton helped broker a peace deal between Rabin and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat with the Oslo accord, many in Israel celebrated the prospect of a solution to the intractable Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But vocal opposition from extremists among both Palestinians and Israelis quickly surfaced. Still, no one expected an assassination of the Israeli prime minister by an ultra-Orthodox Jewish man.

Yigal Amir (Yehuda Nahari Halevi) is already near the far end of conservative Israelis when the peace deal is announced. His Orthodox family generally share his conservative views, although maybe not the degree to which his political views occupy his thoughts.

Watching Yigal’s transformation up close like this is a disturbing experience but director Zilberman uses our discomfort to make a critical point about how violent extremists are born. Early on, Yigal attends protest rallies opposing the peace accord, but then seems on the verge of joining in when rally turns violent. Still, when a policeman starts to arrest him, he begs to be let go, pleading that it will ruin his career as a law student and that he is about to be married and his fiancee will dump him if she finds out. The emotional plea works and the policeman lets him go.

It is true that Yigal is studying law but he exaggerated his romantic situation. He and Nava (Daniella Kertesz) are discussing marriage, but no wedding is in the offing. There is a family complication, as Nava is an Ashkenazi Jew, while his family are and his family are Sephardic Jews from Yemen. There are hints of prejudice against the Sephardi in Israeli society generally, and Yigal’s mother is filled with resentment towards the Ashkenazim Jewish majority who dominate Israeli society. She cautions her son that Nava’s Eastern European-derived family will never accept him, re-inforcing his sense of being an outsider.

However, the incitement in the title comes more from heated political climate and the incendiary speeches of far-right rabbis and other leaders. When Yigal and his more radical friends like Shlomo Amir (Amitay Yaish Benuosilio) begin to talk about assassination, Yigal seeks moral approval from like-minded extreme right rabbis. When Yigal makes inquiries, clocking his question as a philosophical one, there is no shortage of heated talk. Some are willing to provide that needed rationale, although the argument is phrased indirectly and the rabbis may not be aware of what a powder keg Yigal is, or their role as the match.

It is a chilling film, a true story that unfolds like a taut thriller, one that picks up speed and terror as Yigal and his radical friends plunge into the realm of terrorism. Yehuda Nahari Halevi is riveting and terrifying as Yigal as we see him slip under the surface of extremism, stepping from protest to violence. The performance is stunning, as we watch the character become increasingly un-moored from his more mainstream friends and ordinary life, drawn in by speeches of extremist leaders and rabbis.

INCITEMENT gives us a cautionary tale on the making of an assassin, and a lesson in the toxic power of incendiary rhetoric, a lesson all societies should heed. INCITEMENT, in Hebrew with English subtitles, opens Friday, February 21, at Landmark’s Plaza Frontenac Cinema.

RATING: 3 1/2 out of 4 stars

THE TESTAMENT – JFF 2018 Review

St. Louis Jewish Film Festival
Plaza Frontenac Cinema
Tuesday, June 5 at 7pm
Austria/Israel – In English, German and Hebrew with English subtitles
Director: Amichai Greenberg
Feature: 96 mins.
With introduction by Susan Balk, co-author of “Vienna’s Conscience” and Founding Director of Hate Brakers

In the taut Israeli-Austrian thriller/mystery THE TESTAMENT, Israeli historian Dr. Yoel Halberstam (Ori Pfeffer) is leading a team from the Jerusalem Holocaust Institute in high-profile court battle to preserve a site where 200 Jewish forced laborers were massacred and buried in Austria in March 1945. But the Israeli preservationists are racing a ticking clock, as the Austrian town of Lendsdorf is demanding proof of a mass grave before halting plans for a new development on the site. Halberstam must find it before the deadline set by the court. Unless the mass grave is found, the building plan will go ahead and the site will be obliterated.

The Israeli historian faces a number of problems. Witnesses to the historic events are few and, worse, no one knows the exact location of the mass grave. Several witnesses reported hearing the massacre but none can pinpoint the exact location of the mass grave. An additional problem is that an earlier attempt to bring this crime to light, one made soon after the war, resulted in the assassination of one witness, which drove the rest into hiding.

The gripping Israeli-Austrian mystery/drama THE TESTAMENT debuted at last year’s Venice Film Festival, and was well-received. Director Amichai Greenberg brings a fresh look at the Holocaust by focusing on this personal story and the questions it raises about identity.

Yoel Halberstam is a historian who has built his considerable reputation on his exacting research but despite his considerable skills, the solution to this puzzle keeps eluding him. An Orthodox Jew, Yoel lives for his work, with little time for a personal life. Yoel’s focus on his work and even his faith have narrowed his view of life and even his awareness of the modern world. Known for his passion for the truth, Yoel has devoted his life to his work, neglecting his family to the point that his wife divorced him.. Yoel lives with his elderly mother and his married sister who chides him for his neglect of his personal life. The historian struggles to make time to help his son prepare for his upcoming Bar Mitzvah but has trouble connecting with the boy.

While going through some classified testaments taken for the earlier post-war investigation, Yoel is startled to find his own mother’s name. His mother (Rivka Gur) had always refused to talk about the war, so the discovery sparks more than professional curiosity. Yoel’s hunger to know the truth leads him to use his access to restricted files to find out more, despite the ethical questions it raises. As the historian digs deeper, he discovers long-buried family secrets. The discoveries are shattering for Yoel but his compulsion to find the truth, no matter the consequences, drives him forward.

The acting is superb in this thought-provoking drama. Pfeffer does as excellent job as Yoel, wrestling with his conflicted feelings and with the mental puzzle of the mystery that confronts him. The mystery is tense and well-paced, and the plot is draws in larger issues around civilians in wartime, how war can bury secrets or leave lingering fears in survivors who are forever marked by their experience. The photography is striking, often visually beautiful. The film contrasts the modern architecture of locations against the hunt for a mystery about the past. The contrasts between the past and present world course through this exploration of truth and identity.

His discoveries during his research bring into question his assumptions about his own life and cause him to reassess it. Yoel’s mother Fanya (played well by Rivka Gur) dodges her son’s questions about the war, mostly by simply ignoring them. She’s in poor health which makes pressing her difficult, and Yoel’s frustration is palpable. While the personal crisis sends him reeling, he ultimately re-focuses on the task at hand. His research unexpectedly brings to light new information and a new view of the mystery of the mass grave that might help solve the puzzle.

THE TESTAMENT is an intriguing mystery and a different kind of Holocaust tale, as well as a thoughtful exploration of the nature of identity.

SHELTER – JFF 2018 Review

St. Louis Jewish Film Festival at Plaza Frontenac Cinema
Monday, June 4, at 7 pm
Israel • English, Hebrew and Arabic with English subtitles
Director: Eran Riklis
Feature: 83 minutes

The Israeli thriller SHELTER is a film that has been getting a lot of buzz in film circles as it make the rounds of international film festivals. Writer/director Eran Riklis’ drama is a mix of psychological and spy thriller mostly in English although the action takes place primarily at a Mossad safe house in Germany

Naomi (Neta Riskin) is a former Mossad agent who has been out of service for a couple of years. She is lured back by her former boss (Lior Ashkenazi) to take what she is told is a simple two-week assignment, guarding a female Lebanese informer in Germany while she heals from facial plastic surgery to give her a new identity. But the assignment becomes more complex than originally expected, and the women start discovering they have more in common than it at first appeared,

Lior Ashkenazi, who has been in several international hits the last few years, as Naomi’s boss sweet-talks her into coming back to work and reassures her the assignment is little more that “baby-sitting.” Naomi is not sure she wants to come back to work, still mourning the death of her husband, but her boss finally persuades her. Arriving at the apartment in Germany posing as a lady’s companion, she finds her new charge, Mona (Golshifteh Farahani) is beautiful but imperious, the daughter of a wealthy man, who does indeed rather expect Naomi to wait on her like a servant. No-nonsense Naomi is not having it and the two don’t hit it off. But as things start to unravel, a bond grows between the two women.

Riklis adds a lot of unsettling film noir-ish touches to ratchet up the suspense. The German safe house where Mona is being hidden in an apartment in an old German building, the kind that has winding narrow staircases and those old-fashioned elevators that look like cages. Further, there is a plaque in the street outside the building denoting that it was once the home of a Jewish family who were deported to a concentration camp. Neighbors and a shopkeeper nearby have a slightly sinister look to Naomi’s eye, and it does not help that her spoiled charge has a fatalistic view of her situation and is not too careful.

Meanwhile, the terrorists that Mona betrayed are indeed hot on her trail and have figured out she’s not in Lebanon. Uncertain how much she has already said to the Israelis, they are set on assassination – if they find her.

The spy thriller aspect is pretty good, with some nice turns. Much of the film’s emotional heart and drama depends a great deal on the chemistry between the two women. Both Riskin and Farahani do a nice job unspooling each woman’s complex character and tragic backgrounds. The actresses build a convincing bond between, drawing on shared experiences as women caught in political conflict.

SHELTER is a good, entertaining spy and psychological thriller with nice performances although not a film that offers fresh insights on the Israeli-Arab conflict.

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