"The Mistress" movie trailer/courtesy of United King Films
Four new and worthwhile films worth seeing
1. "The Mistress": a summit meeting of Dana Ivegi and Anya Bookstein
"The Mistress" is one of the celebrated Israeli films of recent times.
Now, after being nominated for numerous Ophir awards including in the most important categories, and after making a successful festival tour in America, it is being released in Israel.
This is the first feature length film by the screenwriter Maayan Rif, who here creates a summit meeting between two of the most prominent Israeli actresses of our generation - Dana Ivegi and Anya Bookstein.
Alongside them, you can find Yaniv Biton, Itamar Rothschild, Anat Atzmon and others in supporting roles.
As the name of the film implies, Ivy plays the mistress of a theater man, who passes away suddenly.
She goes to his shiva, and meets his partner, played by Bookstein, and doesn't really know what to do.
Everyone knows what the place of the widow is in such a situation, but what is the place of the mistress?
Best use of Rita's song since "Yossi and Jagger".
From "The Mistress"/courtesy of United King Films
We have already seen many Israeli films and many films about Sabbaths, but this question has not been asked yet.
Riff answers her in a poetic and witty way, with a lot of creativity and humor, and is helped by the performances of the two leading actresses and the best cinematic use of Rita's song since "Yossi and Jagger".
People like to reduce films like "The Mistress" to titles like "small film", but it is actually a film that talks about very big things - life, death, and life after death.
2. "The area of interest": the Holocaust film in question in recent years
The Oscar ceremony will take place at the beginning of next week, on the night between Sunday and Monday.
Most of the prominent films in it have already been shown by us a long time ago, chief among them "Oppenheimer" and "Barbie" of course, but there are a few that haven't yet.
For example, "Area of Interest", a British film that deals with Nazis and therefore speaks German, and is expected to win the Oscar for best international film.
This would make it the second artistic Holocaust film to win the award in the last decade.
The previous one was the Hungarian "Son of Saul", which was a surprising box office success in most of the world, but here it had trouble attracting an audience.
I wonder what will be the fate of the "area of interest".
We will expand on the film and all its merits and demerits tomorrow.
In the meantime, we will say that he deals with the concept of the banality of evil through the story of the commander of the Auschwitz extermination camp, Rudolf Hess, and his partner, Hedwig.
Let's also say that it is a very artistic film, very challenging, difficult to watch, and also very appreciated - in addition to all the nominations and awards, Steven Spielberg defined it as the best Holocaust film since his "Schindler's List", which is now celebrating its thirtieth anniversary.
It will be ironic, funny, ridiculous, unfortunate or however you define it if in Israel they are not interested in the most talked about Holocaust film of recent years, then let's hope it will find its audience and we can continue the discussion about it.
On the way to the Oscars.
From "The Area of Interest"/Lev Cinema
3. "Holit 2": There is a possibility that this is the biggest hit of the year
The big blockbuster of the last time and maybe of the whole year continues the saga that started in the previous film which was successful in itself.
And what is the plot?
Ha, here we come to the terms of use.
It is important to clarify that in order to understand this hit, you need to do your homework.
If you haven't seen the first movie in the series, do so, and even if you have, it won't hurt to watch it again, and it's best if you're also familiar with the books.
In any case, seeing this hit in IMAX is an experience.
Also because of the impressive directing work of Denis Villeneuve, who aligns here with Christopher Nolan and stands next to him at the top of the list of the greatest commercial directors today - a status that was previously reserved for Spielberg and Lucas;
Also because of the spectacular work of all the other crew members - photographer Greg Fraser, composer Hans Zimmer and so on;
Also because of the actors' gallery, which includes most of the big names of our generation - Timothy Shalama, Zendaya, Florence Pugh, Austin Butler and who not (only Sidney Sweeney is missing);
And also because seeing "Holit 2" in an auditorium full to the brim, with viewers of all ages clinging to their seats with bated breath for almost three hours, is the kind of spiritual transcendence the film describes.
In addition to everything, his engagement with faith, religion and Christianity is very topical, and despite all the popcorn he will sell, it is hard not to see political connections in him, including those that are relevant to our region at the moment.
More in Walla!
"This film has the catering budget of the James Bond films I've done, yet we made it to the Oscars"
To the full article
experience.
From "Holit 2"/Tulip Media
4. "A robot's dream": one of the biggest sensations of the last Oscar
And here is a film whose total budget is equal to the make-up budget of "Holit 2".
It is a 2D animated film made in Spain, devoid of dialogues and stars, yet it received an Oscar nomination - in the longest animated film category.
This, at the expense of empires like Netflix and Disney that were left out because of him.
"Robot's Dream" deserves a nomination and also deserves an award - it is a unique and beautiful film, a real masterpiece, a kind of "eternal sunshine with a clear head" in animation.
It is suitable for anyone of any age, as long as they have a heart.
Based on Sarah Varon's graphic novel, director Pablo Berger presents a story set in 1980s New York.
As the name implies, the heroes are a dog and a robot.
The dog is a lonely puppy named Dog, who buys himself a robot to alleviate his loneliness.
They become soul mates and inseparable, but then something happens that destabilizes their harmony.
All they have left are their memories, and then they both ask themselves the biggest question of all, which Gina Rowlands already asked in "Another Woman": Are memories something you have, or something you've lost?
"Robot's Dream" answers this with extraordinary depth, both visually and emotionally, and all this in just over an hour and a half - you have to watch it twice to match the length of "Holit 2".
Oscar nominee.
From "A Robot's Dream"/Arcadia Motion Pictures, Lokiz Films, Noodles Production, Les Films du Worso
Movies that you really don't want to see
5. Inferior animated films
Five films are nominated in the best animated feature film category, and all are available to watch in Israel.
"The Boy and the Heron" and "A Robot's Dream" are showing in the cinema.
"Elemental" and "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Dimensional" are available on VOD and "Nimona" on Netflix.
All are quality films, some more and some less.
But on the other hand, there are distributors who throw inferior animated films into the cinemas in Israel, and we are using gentle words here.
These are films made in illusory countries, with low production values to say the least, that were not distributed in almost any other country.
So why here?
Because as we know, there are a lot of children in Israel, and a lot of parents who are looking for any way to amuse them, and we also have a lot of holidays, for example Purim and Passover, which are coming soon, increasing the rate of distribution of this animated garbage.
We won't say the names of all these films here, also because you don't need complicated detective work to stand for their nature.
Do a short search, watch the trailer, and ask yourself what are the chances that an Indonesian movie about a talking rhinoceros that looks like an imitation of "Madagascar" and has not seen the light of day almost anywhere else will be worth the price of the ticket.
On the other hand, what do we know?
We are not your children and maybe they actually long to see this movie and will also enjoy it.
More on the same topic:
Dune
Tal Cantor
Zendaya
Timothy Shalama
Dana Ivy
Anya Bookstein
Rita
holocaust
Cannes Film Festival