"World Cinema: Israel"

My book, "World Cinema: Israel" (originally published in 1996) is available from Amazon on "Kindle", with an in-depth chapter comparing and analyzing internationally acclaimed Israeli films up to 2010.

Want to see some of the best films of recent years? Just scroll down to "best films" to find listings of my recommendations.

amykronish@gmail.com

Thursday, May 20, 2010

The Green Dumpster Mystery

One of my favorite films of recent years is The Green Dumpster Mystery, directed by Tal Haim Yoffe, which is an example of the blurring of the line between documentary and feature films. I highly recommend it for Selichot -- is it too early to begin thinking about programming right after the summer?

Since I have reviewed this film already on this blog, I have chosen here to quote from a review by Uri Klein in Ha'aretz (July 21, 2008) --

This is a documentary film with "staged" and perhaps even fictional elements -- and one of the best Israeli films of recent times. In an ostensibly light tone, which balances the serious subjects in the film -- history and memory, Holocaust and bereavement -- the film tells the story of the director himself, who as he rode his scooter through South Tel Aviv, found a stash of old photographs in a dumpster.

In the wake of this find, he sets out on a quest to find the people in the photos. Gradually, as in a very good thriller, in which secrets are revealed with increasing dramatic and emotional force, the director sets the stage for an Israeli family saga.

Yoffe succeeds in digressing from a personal story into a drama with symbolic power. This is a serious, complex and important work.

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