Mars Turkey (2001)

A police captain needs to balance between protecting the last remaining witness in a trial, and his rapidly disintegrating love life.

Director:

Oded Davidoff

Writers:

Limor Nachmias (book), Limor Nachmias (screenplay),

Stars:

Alon Aboutboul, Yael Hadar, Gal Zaid

2 wins & 10 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Alon Aboutboul	...	Reuven Shechter
Yael Hadar	...	Aya Masterichi
Gal Zaid	...	Patrick Sarusi
Dalit Kahan	...	Shuli
Tomer Sharon	...	Iftah
Tzahi Grad	...	David Shuashu
Ofira Rahamim	...	Cohen
Avi Seder	...	Kadosh
Poly Reshef	...	Zeharia
Shmulik Calderone	...	Shimon Peres
Nahman Ashkenazi	...	Attorney Nissim
Dvir Benedek	...	Barguda
Hilla Sarjon	...	Hedva
Boaz Davidoff	...	Hava Albershtein Deliveryman
Gisele Silver	...	Shirley (as Osnat Hakim)

Storyline

A stylish Israeli crime comedy, Mars Turkey tells the story of Reuven, a police captain in charge of protecting Shimon, the last remaining witness in a trial against crime-lord Patrick Sarusi. Seeing as how Patrick has managed to get to all the other witnesses, Reuven is so desperate to keep Shimon alive that he assigns himself to watch-duty, with the intention of never letting Shimon out of his sight. But as the trial draws near, events start spinning out of control when, in an act of desperation, Reuven sends his sexually frustrated mistress, Aya, to plant a bug in Patrick's apartment. Encouraged by Patrick's neighbor, Aya decides to confront Reuven about his sexual inadequacy and his vain promises to her about leaving his wife, just as Patrick slips out of house-arrest. Will Reuven be able to keep his mind on the job while his love life melts down in front of his eyes?

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Plot Keywords:

male nudity | male rear nudity

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Genres:

Comedy | Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Details

Country:

Israel

Language:

Hebrew

Release Date:

22 February 2001 (Israel)

Also Known As:

Clean Sweep

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Color:

Color

User Reviews

Superb Tarantino imitation

Quentin Trashantino has spawned many imitators over the last few years, most of them more talented than he is. While his influence is most keenly felt in Japan with its long tradition of gangster films centred around the Yakuza, this very entertaining Israeli film easily matches those Japanese ones, and of course, easily tops Quentin. In fact it's easily the best of the few Israeli films that I have seen.

The film centres around a team of police trying to safeguard prosecution witnesses from a drug dealer who doesn't care for the wellbeing of witnesses, and has been steadily thinning their ranks. The police try to stay one step ahead of the drug dealer as they protect their last witness. Meanwhile Aya Mastrichi (Yael Hadar), a sexy female Dirty Harry and the most effective of the police officers, is having relationship problems with her insensitive pig of a policeman boyfriend, and the people she incidentally meets while working on the case encourage her to be more demanding of her right to an orgasm. All these different subplots are neatly and hilariously tied up in a very satisfactory manner by the end of this beautifully structured film, with our hero outsmarting everyone.

As expected from a Tarantino ripoff, the characters are all humorous, ultraviolent eccentrics, filmed with a particular emphasis on saturated colours to give it that slightly cartoonish feel. Yael Hadar in the lead female role looks very fetching, very much resembling a young Beatrice Dalle, although they have had to put the makeup on with a trowel as Hadar bears little actual resemblance.