Cannes. Tehilim.

"Oh boy," sighs Robert Koehler at filmjourney.org. "[Raphael] Nadjari has laid the biggest egg so far with a massively disappointing follow-up to his intensely fine drama, Avanim, one of the few worthy Israeli films of recent years."

Dan Fainaru, writing for Screen Daily, disagrees. Tehilim (Psalms, in Competition) is a "quiet, subdued and remarkably controlled drama." It's "so smoothly accurate in every little detail and moves with such an assured, unhurried pace towards its goal that audiences will soon forget they are watching a film and believe it is life itself unfolding before their eyes."

Updated through 5/27.

It's about "what happens when a man suddenly disappears from his otherwise peaceful Jerusalem neighborhood," writes Ray Bennett in the Hollywood Reporter. "The story examines not the politics of the region but the religious impact the man's absence has on his wife and two sons. That narrow focus will limit the film's appeal severely."

"Exploring unresolved loss with docu-like veracity, this intimate, disturbing tale will prove more frustrating than enlightening for many viewers, despite its conversation-sparking premise," agrees Variety's Lisa Nesselson.

Update, 5/27: "Nobody seems to care much about this Israeli-French co-production, and with good reason," writes Mike D'Angelo at ScreenGrab.

---

Cannes @ 60. Index.

---

Posted by dwhudson at May 22, 2007 6:26 AM