Alila (2003)

Slice-of-life look at the lives of twelve people who live or work in the same apartment complex in Tel Aviv.

Director:

Amos Gitai

Writers:

Amos Gitai, Yehoshua Kenaz (novel),

Stars:

Yaël Abecassis, Hana Laszlo, Uri Klauzner

4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Yaël Abecassis	...	Gabi
Hana Laszlo	...	Mali
Uri Klauzner	...	Ezra (as Uri Ran Klauzner)
Liron Levo	...	Ilan
Ronit Elkabetz	...	Ronit
Amos Lavi	...	Hezi (as Amos Lavie)
Lupo Berkowitch	...	Aviram
Yosef Carmon	...	Schwartz
Amit Mestechkin	...	Eyal
Lyn Hsiao Zamir	...	Linda
Tomer Russo	...	Officer
Carmel Betto	...	Carmel
Dalit Kahan	...	Sharon
Kobi Zahavi	...	Kiosk owner
Eyal Elhadad	...	Locksmith

Storyline

In Tel Aviv, the gloomy Ezra hires foreign workers without permits to build an addition to a homely block of flats where his ex-wife Mali lives with her current lover Ilan. Ezra and Mali's young son Eyal hates the army and is AWOL, living among prostitutes and drug dealers. Gabi, a beautiful young woman who's a friend of Mali's, is carrying on an affair with Hezi, an older man insisting on secrecy. Hezi rents an apartment at the building for their trysts. Neighbors complain about the noise of their lovemaking and of the construction. Lives revolve slowly one around another. "Everyone's out for himself," says Ezra of Israeli society. Suicide bombings and elections provide a backdrop.

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Plot Keywords:

affair | nudity | breasts | sex | based on novel

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Details

Country:

Israel France

Language:

Hebrew English

Release Date:

1 October 2003 (France)

Also Known As:

Czlowiek z sasiedztwa

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$3,063 (USA) (27 February 2004)

Gross:

$48,493 (USA) (11 June 2004)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Agav Films, Agav Hafakot, Hamon Productions Ltd.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

123 min 122 min 116 min (Ontario)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Crazy Credits

Opening credits are spoken by director Amos Gitai.

User Reviews

introduction to israel 101

this is a film that tries to criticize Israel's public morality.It addresses several issues such as: fornication, racism, immigration,national pride and allegiance to state ideals.both female protagonists have sexual encounters that are outside the norm.The one ends up in grief and the other one is dismissed as insignificant.The Arabs receive pejorative characterizations many times through out the film.the Chinese immigrants sleep in a van they are entities that the state refuse to recognize but they serve as cheap labor for the Israeli civilians, they wonder around freely in the streets of tel-aviv and they don't get deported because of corruption of the police.The boy wants to flee from the army and seems to express a form of indignation towards it's country.Sporadically we are informed about various conflicts between Israeli-Palestinians, suicide attacks, political controversy, etc.Apparently for Gitai Israel is in a state of turmoil, THE OLD GODS ARE DEAD and the new ones are not yet present, in other words Israel is in a transitional state. Cinematically speaking some of the vignettes are interesting and some extremely clichéd and boring, some they last too much time especially some sex scenes.the acting overall is good.It is a pity because Gitai tried to achieve a social commentary towards his country and also to portray some dramatic tension and i think he was lame in both of them.But i recognize his noble intentions so i will give his next film a try if can get hold of it here in Greece.