JFilm fest wraps with notable selections
Pittsburgh’s JFilm festival enters its second and final weekend with some notable selections, including “Felix et Meira.”
A story of an unconventional romance between two people living vastly different realities just blocks away was named best Canadian feature at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival. It’s among 10 films playing between now and 7 p.m. Sunday when the annual event will close with “Is That You?” and a visit by director Dani Menkin.
A sampling of reviews:
‘Is ThaT You?’
When Ronnie (Alon Aboutboul), a 60-yearold Israeli film projectionist, is fired from his job, he decides to head for the United States to try to find an old girlfriend, Rachel. She was the gold standard; he judged all others on the “Rachel scale,” his brother reminds him.
Ronnie hasn’t seen her in 40 years but hopes to make good on a long-ago promise that, no matter what, they would be together on her 60th birthday. With an address from the Internet courtesy of a computer-geek nephew, he embarks on a romantic, comedic quest that — only in the movies — coincides with a young woman’s documentary project.
She is exploring the notion of the road not taken and, of course, invites Ronnie to join her when his loaner car conks out. “Is That You?” is very light on details about what split the pair apart and how one brother landed in Israel and the other in New York state and, like many road trips, it is memorable for wrong turns and detours.
But you, like Ronnie and his traveling companion, will want to see if Rachel can be found or what a reunion might be like. The answer is both expected and unexpected, making the journey — and the questions you put to yourself along the way and afterward — ultimately worth it.
— Barbara Vancheri, Post-Gazette movie editor
‘FelIx eT MeIra’
When Felix (Martin Dubreuil) and Meira (Hadas Yaron) meet, it’s pretty easy to see where their relationship is heading. He’s a free-spirited man grappling with the death of his father, and she’s a married woman chafing at the constraints of the Hasidic Jewish community. They’re both desperate for a connection, no matter the consequences.
Because of Meira’s faith, small moments — making eye contact, holding hands, playing Ping-Pong — take on the significance of much larger events. The movie moves deliberately, exulting in tiny moments of intimacy.
Meira is its constricted core, struggling with both her desires to live outside of Hasidic strictures (she sneaks birth control pills) and her discomfort with disobeying the rules by which she has lived her life for so long. The struggles are personal rather than an indictment of Hasidic Judaism, but a brief attempt at humanizing Meira’s husband (Luzer Twersky) at the end falls a bit flat, considering how cruel he is through most of the movie.
Overall, however, the characters are treated with empathy and dignity. “Felix et Meira” isn’t a story of escape. It’s a story of
‘BeneaTh The helMeT: FroM hIgh school To The hoMe FronT’ HH ½
Eilon Kohan says in the United States, teenagers go to college, start partying, start studying and start everything at his age of 18. He, however, is about to trade playing gui-
tar on the beach and singing “Here Comes the Sun” with his carefree friends for compulsory military service in Israel and the opportunity to grow up.
He is one of four young men, along with one woman, profiled in this documentary celebrating patriotism, purpose and a deepened religious devotion. Its tone is reverential rather than warts and all and it presumes the audience knows the basics, never explaining any difference between training for men and women, or if attending college outside the country (or other circumstances) provide a permanent excuse from service.
The penalty of going AWOL is addressed, but does anyone ever just wash out?
“Beneath the Helmet” presents a motley yet model group where someone as young as 20 is a paratrooper commander responsible for 42 recruits and three sergeants. A woman who grew up spoiled is a drill sergeant while the newbies include Eilon, an Israeli-born Swiss citizen and an Ethiopian with family and debt worries.
It does a compelling, inspiring job of providing a close-up look at its subjects but could have benefited from pulling the camera back and providing a bigger picture.