CFIC 2010 Update
In Five Hours from Paris, “Yigal,” a sweet-faced loser, spends his days driving a taxi around Tel Aviv & his nights trying to pretend he’s not insulted by having his ex-wife’s new husband for a “business partner.” Then he finally meets “Miss Right,” and not only is she already married, but her husband, a successful Russian doctor, is already making plans to move them from Eretz Israel to greener if colder pastures in Canada.
Five Hours is a full-length feature directed by Leonid Prodovsky creator of the delightful short Like a Fish Out of Water a few years back. (Prodovsky also co-wrote the screenplay with Erez Kav-El.)
Like Fish, Five Hours treads gently on the travails of aliyah from both directions: sabras “absorbing” new immigrants (supportive but also resenting having to compete with them), and new immigrants resisting “absorption” (grateful to have arrived but still wanting the most out of life).
Dror Keren is fully believeable in Yigal’s many moods, and when he finally marshals the determination to fight for himself, the whole audience is behind him. But he’s up against Vladimir Freedman as “Grisha” (the doctor), and as an actor and a character Freedman (who’s starred in Broken Wings & The Schwartz Dynasty–two of my all-time favorite Israei film) is formidable.
I don’t remember having seen love-object Elena Yaralova (“Lina”) before, but based on this performance, I’m sure we’ll see more of her soon.
Photo courtesy of the Five Hours website.
CFIC Screenings:
Sat Oct 23 @ 8:30 PM (Chicago)
Weds Oct 27 @ 8:30 PM (Northbrook)
Sun Oct 31 @ 6:00 PM (Northbrook)
