Movies about the army are usually about fighting, sacrifice, a tense atmosphere and people in uniform plotting war strategies. “Zero Motivation,” the first feature film by Israeli director Talya Lavie, shows a different aspect of military life: Set in an army base in the Israeli desert in 2004, it tells the story of a group…
“Two-Bit Waltz” is a small independent film about teenage alienation that debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 19. But before you say: “Thank goodness, that’s just what the world needs — another film about teenage angst,” here are a couple of facts you should know. First, yes, the film has moments best described…
Two films screening at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival show subtle and nuanced perspectives on Israeli life from a woman’s point of view. Talya Lavie’s first feature, “Zero Motivation,” [screening April 17 – 24,]( (http://tribecafilmfestival.org/filmguide/53208b38c07f5df7d20008a9-zero-motivation ‘screening April 17 – 24,’) focuses on a unit of female Israeli soldiers at a desert-based human resource center awash…
For the many people walking through New York’s Lower East Side on any given day, 70 Hester Street is just one of many historic buildings. But for 37-year-old filmmaker Casimir Nozkowski, this former synagogue is home. He grew up in the loft space on the upper two floors, which his artist parents, Thomas Nozkowski and…
The three Israeli films at this year’s Tribeca Film Festiva, which ended April 28, reflect an eclectic mix of genres, visions, and views about Israeli culture and the world at large. Two of the films deal with victimization, abuse and culpability. “Big Bad Wolves” starts out promisingly, with a suspenseful slow-motion opening sequence, as three…
In a world of insecurity and competition, sometimes the only way for a teenager to raise their social status is to act out — and usually, that involves sex. So goes the uncomfortably realistic narrative of “Six Acts,” an Israeli film by director Jonathan Gurfinkel and writer Rona Segal that will screen at New York’s…
It’s been almost 10 years since “Yossi and Jagger” came out (no pun intended) to rave reviews. The movie, of course, is Israeli director Eytan Fox’s romantic drama about two male soldiers who fall into a doomed love at the front in Lebanon. The subject matter, a gay relationship within the context of the Israeli…
Benjamin Ivry remembers conductor George Szell, who may have been a dictator on the podium, but was no Nazi. Jordana Horn sees “Rabies,” billed as “Israel’s first horror film,” at the Tribeca Film Festival. Jenna Weissman Joselit keeps track of Jewish Time. Philologos is singing in the rain. Steven G. Kellman reviews “Motti,” an offbeat…
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