I don't know whether it's an intentional reference to the famous dictum attributed to Chekhov-- that a gun seen on the wall in the first act must be fired on the third-- but near the start of "America" we see a large number of guns on the wall and for the rest of the movie, the screenwriter plays with our expectations. Sometimes their fulfillment comes late, sometimes it's skipped, and sometimes everything seems wrapped up and yet the film inches onward-- carried by a thin thread of music, along with the striking long-skulled face of the lead actress-- until a new development kicks in.
And I don't know whether it's intentional that Michael Moshonov, an Israeli actor who once went off to America with no intent to ever make his home in Israel again, plays Eli-- a character who does the same. Or that his father Moni Moshonov plays a friendly neighbor who is a support to Eli while Eli's parents' marriage is on the rocks. Is the casting supposed to help us imagine that the neighbor is Eli's real father?
Anyway, while the structure of the storytelling is unconventional, it's not unsatisfying. The curiously chosen title-- almost none of the story takes place in America-- apparently refers to America as imagined by the huddled masses. The place where, if you can reach it, everything will be all right.
And I don't know whether it's intentional that Michael Moshonov, an Israeli actor who once went off to America with no intent to ever make his home in Israel again, plays Eli-- a character who does the same. Or that his father Moni Moshonov plays a friendly neighbor who is a support to Eli while Eli's parents' marriage is on the rocks. Is the casting supposed to help us imagine that the neighbor is Eli's real father?
Anyway, while the structure of the storytelling is unconventional, it's not unsatisfying. The curiously chosen title-- almost none of the story takes place in America-- apparently refers to America as imagined by the huddled masses. The place where, if you can reach it, everything will be all right.