Film review: 'Yana's Friends' Love Amid the Air Raids / 'Yana's Friends' pleases as Israeli fest opener
Winner of 10 1999 Israeli Academy Awards, including best film, director, actor and actress, "Yana's Friends" (in Hebrew and Russian with English subtitles) is a crowd-pleasing ensemble comedy set in Tel Aviv on the eve of and during the 1991 Gulf War.
The feature debut of Moscow-born director and co-writer Arik Kaplun stars his talented wife, Evelyn, who is also Russian. It is one of the most technically polished and internationally accessible Israeli films in years.
Although it didn't even get nominated as Israel's official submission to the Oscars, "Yana's Friends" premiered Wednesday in Los Angeles to an enthusiastic full house at the Academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills, with the Kapluns in attendance. The opening night film of the 16th Israel Film Festival, "Yana's Friends" and other current Israeli features, TV works and documentaries screen this week at Laemmle's Monica 4-Plex.
Yana (Evelyn Kaplun in a captivatingly sweet and sensual performance) is a young Russian woman who follows her husband to Israel, where they take up residence in a crowded Tel Aviv tenement. Indeed, they share space with videotaping bohemian Eli (Nir Levi), whose latest girlfriend dumps him and chides him for his obsessive behavior. The landlady is old gal Rosa (Dalia Friedland), a relatively humble and humane hustler, who welcomes another Russian couple and their immobile, wheelchairbound grandfather (Moscu Alcalay).
When Yana's cagey husband goes away and doesn't come back, leaving her with a debt that makes it difficult to return home, she has some tough decisions to make, including what to do about her pregnancy. With Eli, usually paid to chronicle weddings and circumcisions, covertly filming her on the street, she borrows the money and gets an abortion. Soon after, when she takes a look at Eli's tapes of her, including other intimate moments, they almost part ways.
While these two work out their problems on the way to a full-blown romance, the film spends a lot of time on Alcalay's character and his nemesis, a career beggar and accordion-player (Shmil Ben-Ari). Old granddad is a veritable gold mine for small change from passersby, silent and hunched in his wheelchair, barely moving his eyes or face to show he's alive, dressed in his army uniform and covered with medals. His rival is rash and vindictive and not above potentially lethal antics to keep his turf.
When Desert Storm commences and the threat of Scud missile attacks becomes a reality, the film picks up considerably. There are inspired details like the container Yana uses to protect her small dog from biological weapons. She and Eli are forced together during air raids, including kinky clad-only-in-their-gas-masks lovemaking scenes. In a tidy and sentimental conclusion, all survive the conflict and do right by each other.
YANA'S FRIENDS
Transfax Film Prods.
Paralite Prods.
Credits: Director: Arik Kaplun; Screenwriters: Arik Kaplun, Semion Vinokur; Producers: Marek Rozenbaum, Moshe Levinson, Uri Sabag, Einat Bikel; Director of photography: Valentin Belanogov; Production designer: Ariel Roshko; Editors: Einat Glazer-Zarchin, Tali Halter-Shenkar; Music: Avi Binyamin. Cast: Yana: Evelyn Kaplun; Eli: Nir Levi; Rosa: Dalia Friedland; Accordionist: Shmil Ben-Ari; Isaac: Moscu Alcalay. No MPAA rating. Color/stereo. Running time -- 92 minutes.
The feature debut of Moscow-born director and co-writer Arik Kaplun stars his talented wife, Evelyn, who is also Russian. It is one of the most technically polished and internationally accessible Israeli films in years.
Although it didn't even get nominated as Israel's official submission to the Oscars, "Yana's Friends" premiered Wednesday in Los Angeles to an enthusiastic full house at the Academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills, with the Kapluns in attendance. The opening night film of the 16th Israel Film Festival, "Yana's Friends" and other current Israeli features, TV works and documentaries screen this week at Laemmle's Monica 4-Plex.
Yana (Evelyn Kaplun in a captivatingly sweet and sensual performance) is a young Russian woman who follows her husband to Israel, where they take up residence in a crowded Tel Aviv tenement. Indeed, they share space with videotaping bohemian Eli (Nir Levi), whose latest girlfriend dumps him and chides him for his obsessive behavior. The landlady is old gal Rosa (Dalia Friedland), a relatively humble and humane hustler, who welcomes another Russian couple and their immobile, wheelchairbound grandfather (Moscu Alcalay).
When Yana's cagey husband goes away and doesn't come back, leaving her with a debt that makes it difficult to return home, she has some tough decisions to make, including what to do about her pregnancy. With Eli, usually paid to chronicle weddings and circumcisions, covertly filming her on the street, she borrows the money and gets an abortion. Soon after, when she takes a look at Eli's tapes of her, including other intimate moments, they almost part ways.
While these two work out their problems on the way to a full-blown romance, the film spends a lot of time on Alcalay's character and his nemesis, a career beggar and accordion-player (Shmil Ben-Ari). Old granddad is a veritable gold mine for small change from passersby, silent and hunched in his wheelchair, barely moving his eyes or face to show he's alive, dressed in his army uniform and covered with medals. His rival is rash and vindictive and not above potentially lethal antics to keep his turf.
When Desert Storm commences and the threat of Scud missile attacks becomes a reality, the film picks up considerably. There are inspired details like the container Yana uses to protect her small dog from biological weapons. She and Eli are forced together during air raids, including kinky clad-only-in-their-gas-masks lovemaking scenes. In a tidy and sentimental conclusion, all survive the conflict and do right by each other.
YANA'S FRIENDS
Transfax Film Prods.
Paralite Prods.
Credits: Director: Arik Kaplun; Screenwriters: Arik Kaplun, Semion Vinokur; Producers: Marek Rozenbaum, Moshe Levinson, Uri Sabag, Einat Bikel; Director of photography: Valentin Belanogov; Production designer: Ariel Roshko; Editors: Einat Glazer-Zarchin, Tali Halter-Shenkar; Music: Avi Binyamin. Cast: Yana: Evelyn Kaplun; Eli: Nir Levi; Rosa: Dalia Friedland; Accordionist: Shmil Ben-Ari; Isaac: Moscu Alcalay. No MPAA rating. Color/stereo. Running time -- 92 minutes.
- 4/4/2000
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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