Dealing with the tenuousness and unreliability of memory, Jonathan Sagall has crafted a sophomore feature that isn’t easy to shake. An Israeli-raised, Canadian-born filmmaker, many at the Toronto International Film Festival were interested to discover why he chose to tell a story about two Palestinian women. Attempting to remain as politically correct and honest as possible, his response was a resounding, “This is a story about people”. To Sagall, his work doesn’t deal with two sides of a never-ending war or two religions at odds with one another. Whereas audience members wanted an underlying salacious manifesto of political turmoil, they received the complicated love story built around the loss of innocence found on its surface. The message would be the same if the characters were Jewish, Muslim, Christian, male, or female. Those attributes are merely details in the grand scope of the unforgettable horror soon revealed, one that...
- 9/12/2011
- by jpraup@gmail.com (thefilmstage.com)
- The Film Stage
Lipstikka
Written by Jonathan Sagall
Directed by Jonathan Sagall
Israel, 2011
Armed with understatement and nuance, director Jonathan Sagall has created in Lipstikka the sort of film that demands a careful viewing and prolonged digestion. I find myself writing this review several days after having seen the film—not out of laziness, but because I required the time to think it over. It’s the type of thing that, once ended, demands to be experienced a second time in order to be properly understood.
Lipstikka is through-and-through an intimate drama. It takes place in London (at the present) and is intercut with flashbacks (to London in the past and Ramallah further in the past). However, the real setting of the film is the emotional landscape between Lara (Clara Khoury, The Syrian Bride) and Inam (Nataly Attiya, Yom Yom), lifelong friends and erstwhile lovers (young Lara and Inam are played by Ziv Weiner and Moran Rosenblatt,...
Written by Jonathan Sagall
Directed by Jonathan Sagall
Israel, 2011
Armed with understatement and nuance, director Jonathan Sagall has created in Lipstikka the sort of film that demands a careful viewing and prolonged digestion. I find myself writing this review several days after having seen the film—not out of laziness, but because I required the time to think it over. It’s the type of thing that, once ended, demands to be experienced a second time in order to be properly understood.
Lipstikka is through-and-through an intimate drama. It takes place in London (at the present) and is intercut with flashbacks (to London in the past and Ramallah further in the past). However, the real setting of the film is the emotional landscape between Lara (Clara Khoury, The Syrian Bride) and Inam (Nataly Attiya, Yom Yom), lifelong friends and erstwhile lovers (young Lara and Inam are played by Ziv Weiner and Moran Rosenblatt,...
- 9/9/2011
- by Dave Robson
- SoundOnSight
Rating: 0.5 out of 5 stars
When the director of Nader and Simin, A Separation, the Iranian Asghar Farhadi, was asked what he made of being in the same competition as an Israeli film here at Berlinale, he was noble in sentiment. “Films are very expensive to make” he said, “so I hope they can all win prizes regardless of which country they are from.” Everybody applauded this spirit of cinematic brotherhood and we all felt that a blow had been struck in the name of world peace. It was an emotional time.
Yet had Farhadi the chance to see that rival film, Odem (or Lipstick in English), I’d like to think he’d have been less diplomatic. Odem is without a shadow of a doubt the single worst film I have seen in the official selection. It is one of the worst films I have ever seen in any context in fact,...
When the director of Nader and Simin, A Separation, the Iranian Asghar Farhadi, was asked what he made of being in the same competition as an Israeli film here at Berlinale, he was noble in sentiment. “Films are very expensive to make” he said, “so I hope they can all win prizes regardless of which country they are from.” Everybody applauded this spirit of cinematic brotherhood and we all felt that a blow had been struck in the name of world peace. It was an emotional time.
Yet had Farhadi the chance to see that rival film, Odem (or Lipstick in English), I’d like to think he’d have been less diplomatic. Odem is without a shadow of a doubt the single worst film I have seen in the official selection. It is one of the worst films I have ever seen in any context in fact,...
- 2/18/2011
- by Robert Beames
- Obsessed with Film
The first Golden Bear competing titles for the upcoming Berlin Film Festival were announced today, and among the 8, we find the Israeli film Lipstikka by director Jonathan Segal. Segal was a successful actor, a part of a trio who stared in Lemon Popsicle, an enormously successful comedy about the sexual experiences of teenagers that had 6 (!) sequels in the 1980's. In the 90's Segal turned to directing, and his first feature, Kesher-Ir (Urban Feel) screened in Berlin in 1999. His new feature caused controversy while it was in production last year. The controversy was so massive, that even the Knesset (the Israeli parliament) had a meeting concerning Lipstikka. The film tells the story of two Palestinian girls who sneak to the Jewish part of Jerusalem in 1993 to go to the cinema and see a film staring their idol, Mel Gibson. A brief encounter with Israeli soldiers turns into a romantic game with fatal consequences.
- 12/16/2010
- IONCINEMA.com
London -- Writer/director Jonathan Sagall has signed up Natali Atia, Clara Khoury, Daniel Caltagirone and Tali Knight to star in his project "Lipstikka."
The movie, due to shoot here in the British capital and on location in Haifa, Israel, details the story of two teenage girls -- one Christian, one Muslim -- who decide to celebrate a birthday by an illicit trip to the cinema and sneak over the divide into West Jerusalem where their paths cross two Israeli soldiers. Years later the two girls come together in London and the layers of remembered events are stripped away revealing vastly different stories that have scarred their lives.
Sagall also produces along with Guy Allon with John Reiss and David Willing taking exec producer roles.
The project is backed by Israel Film Fund, John Reiss & Associates and Monumental Productions. The film is scheduled to be ready for release Spring 2010, the filmmakers said.
The movie, due to shoot here in the British capital and on location in Haifa, Israel, details the story of two teenage girls -- one Christian, one Muslim -- who decide to celebrate a birthday by an illicit trip to the cinema and sneak over the divide into West Jerusalem where their paths cross two Israeli soldiers. Years later the two girls come together in London and the layers of remembered events are stripped away revealing vastly different stories that have scarred their lives.
Sagall also produces along with Guy Allon with John Reiss and David Willing taking exec producer roles.
The project is backed by Israel Film Fund, John Reiss & Associates and Monumental Productions. The film is scheduled to be ready for release Spring 2010, the filmmakers said.
- 10/9/2009
- by By Stuart Kemp
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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