This film wasn't easy to track down. I wanted to watch it because I had really enjoyed and admired the novel it's based on, but Amazon didn't have copies of it; evidently it didn't get a lot of distribution outside Israel. I finally managed to track it down to an Israeli online shop.
It's the sort of film that people outside Israel should probably watch, because among other things it lifts the lid on what a corrupt, nasty and dangerous place Israel has become - in other words, it shows just how much Israel can be like any other country. The basic story is of Asaf, a young guy who works for a dog shelter (I think he's meant to be an Israeli Arab, but I'm not certain), trying to reunite a stray dog with its owner. The owner is Tamar, a teenage girl on a mysterious mission. The opening scene, in which Tamar goes into a barbershop and gets her beautiful head of hair shaved off, is shocking in a low-key sort of way. The rest of the film, like the book, is a mixture of adventure story and social commentary.
It's a good movie, with fine performances from all but especially from the two leads, Bar Belfer as Tamar and Yonatan Bar-Or as Asaf. Quite a lot of the suspense comes from the tension about whether or not the two main characters are ever actually going to meet.
David Grossman, author of the original novel, is one of the best novelists working today and this is one of the toughest and most unsentimental Israeli movies I've seen. Since most of the Israeli movies I've seen have tended to be more than a bit sentimental, that's a major mark in its favour. If there's anything wrong with it, it's that it sometimes seems a little far-fetched; the novel was more believable, for some reason. But it's still a very fine story, and it's a shame that it hasn't been seen much outside Israel; most Irish films (I'm Irish) get more hype, but are far more flimsy.
It's the sort of film that people outside Israel should probably watch, because among other things it lifts the lid on what a corrupt, nasty and dangerous place Israel has become - in other words, it shows just how much Israel can be like any other country. The basic story is of Asaf, a young guy who works for a dog shelter (I think he's meant to be an Israeli Arab, but I'm not certain), trying to reunite a stray dog with its owner. The owner is Tamar, a teenage girl on a mysterious mission. The opening scene, in which Tamar goes into a barbershop and gets her beautiful head of hair shaved off, is shocking in a low-key sort of way. The rest of the film, like the book, is a mixture of adventure story and social commentary.
It's a good movie, with fine performances from all but especially from the two leads, Bar Belfer as Tamar and Yonatan Bar-Or as Asaf. Quite a lot of the suspense comes from the tension about whether or not the two main characters are ever actually going to meet.
David Grossman, author of the original novel, is one of the best novelists working today and this is one of the toughest and most unsentimental Israeli movies I've seen. Since most of the Israeli movies I've seen have tended to be more than a bit sentimental, that's a major mark in its favour. If there's anything wrong with it, it's that it sometimes seems a little far-fetched; the novel was more believable, for some reason. But it's still a very fine story, and it's a shame that it hasn't been seen much outside Israel; most Irish films (I'm Irish) get more hype, but are far more flimsy.