Tags archives: Avshalom Pollak
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2 years ago
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Courtesy of Kino Lorber
Ahed’s Knee, the latest feature from Israeli filmmaker Nadav Lapid, is a visually inventive, emotionally engaging work about an artist’s rage against censorship and a citizen’s frustration over his country’s direction. Told over the course of one day, the film depicts Y (a moodily charismatic Avshalom Pollak), a filmmaker who travels to a remote desert village to promote one of his films. The title refers to Ahed Tamimi, a real-life Palestinian activist who was detained by Israeli authorities after slapping a soldier. The controversial Tamimi is the subject of a video project Y has begun casting; we see some audition clips, including one actor’s rendition of “Welcome to the Jungle.” (Music plays a huge part in Lapid’s film.) Throughout, the camera moves restlessly, swooping, circling and swinging side to side, sometimes mirroring a character’s point of view, sometimes just creating a state of frenetic energy.
The host of the screening in the Arava is an employee from the Ministry of Culture (Nur Fibak), an attractive, flirtatious young woman who is a huge fan of Y's work. They become friendly and she casually mentions a form he must sign in order to get paid for the appearance. The form, which limits the topics he can discuss, becomes a symbol of everything Y detests about his country.
Courtesy of Kino Lorber
Though the story is about Y’s despair over what he believes is the crumbling state of Israel, Lapid’s film is a tour de fo[...]
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