Bananot (Cupcakes)

I missed Eytan Fox's latest feature film when it played in the movie theaters in Jerusalem, but I had an opportunity to see it this week.  Bananot (Cupcakes) is an extremely witty musical about romance and about living your dreams.

It is highly enjoyable, charming, a real romp!  Not at all a serious drama -- just a good evening's entertainment!  The acting is stupendous; the script is fast and witty; the characters are charming; the pacing is perfect.  

   

It is about a bunch of friends who get together every year to watch the Eurovision song contest.  They are a witty and charming group, all professional people.  The man is a sometimes over-the-top gay nursery school teacher who has been having a secret love affair for a long time with a handsome media figure who is afraid of ruining his heterosexual image.  The diverse group of women include: a personal assistant for a minister in the government, a well-known singer, an on-line journalist/columnist, a lawyer, and a woman who owns her own bakery.

 

The film reminded me in some ways of Fox's short musical comedy,  Gotta Have Heart (1997), which, filled with Eurovision songs, was a musical fantasy about hunting for the person of your dreams.  

Also in Bananot, Fox is confronting the issue of gay love affairs which remain stuffed in the closet due to societal pressures versus the desire to commit to each other openly and proudly and publicly.   In addition, the film is about living life for your own self and not for other's expectations of you!

Eytan Fox's other films -- Song of the Siren, Walk on Water, Yossi and Jagger, The Bubble and Yossi -- have been previously written about on this blog.