Muchrachim Lehiyot Same'ach (2005)

Joy Levine lives in an old apartment that, in complete contrast to her, is shabby and worn-out on the outside while well-kept and filled with joy on the inside. Her life changes when she ... See full summary »

Director:

Julie Shles

Writer:

Omer Tadmor

Stars:

Sigalit Fuchs, Tal Friedman, Dorit Lev-Ari

3 wins & 9 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Sigalit Fuchs	...	Simcha
Tal Friedman	...	Gil
Dorit Lev-Ari	...	Maya
Keren Mor	...	Nora
Alexander Senderovich	...	Reddy
Eliran Caspi	...	Noah
Rivka Michaeli	...	Haya
Yossi Pollak	...	Yitzhak
Michal Yannai	...	Tamara
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Roni Eltar
Shiri Golan	...	Seller in clothing store
Maya Harel	...	Child in the mall
Yonathan Harel	...	Child in the mall
Omer Kirshenbaum	...	Shimi's daughter
Assaf Leviah	...	Maya's boyfriend

Storyline

Joy Levine lives in an old apartment that, in complete contrast to her, is shabby and worn-out on the outside while well-kept and filled with joy on the inside. Her life changes when she auditions for a TV show called "Gotta Be Happy". To her astonishment, she is chosen, and her mission is to throw a surprise party for her parents on the upcoming show. However, there is a price to pay for all this: she has to let the viewers into her private inner world and share with them an event that has been overshadowing her family's life and hers for the past 22 years; an event that made a tight-knit bunch of friends shun her parents, Chaya and Yitzhak Levine. The show is to be aired right after Yom Kippur, and the theme is forgiveness. Joy must get all her parents' friends to the party in order to conduct the reconciliation. However, reality keeps obstructing her efforts. The idyll expected from such a show is jeopardized by a string of events that threaten to shatter the already fractured ...

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Plot Keywords:

fictional reality show | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Details

Country:

Israel

Language:

Hebrew

Release Date:

1 December 2005 (Israel)

Also Known As:

Joy

Company Credits

Production Co:

Lama Films, Lama Hafakot and Metro Tikshoret, Lama Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Color:

Color

User Reviews

A dreadfully boring film

I saw this film in a group of 40-50 people, some of whom seemed to find meaning in it. I thought it was dreadfully boring and might have walked out, which I almost never do, if I hadn't brought three people along with me. Frankly, I found the film as shallow as a mirror, and the reactions of my fellow viewers appeared to me to be reflections of themselves rather than of anything contained in the film. Although several of the actors in this film do a nice job -- particularly Keren Mor as a sexually frustrated and unhappy wife and Yossi Pollak as the father of Simcha (i.e., Joy), played by Sigalit Fuchs -- the plot is neither credible nor interesting. One of the people in the audience had the nerve to compare "Joy" to "Annie Hall" and the director, Julie Shies, to Woody Allen. But one needs a microscope to uncover the comic element in "Joy" and Julie Shies's sensibility is similar to Woody Allen's only because they are both Jewish. The film is framed around Yom Kippur and the motif of "return" (minus repentance). I doubt that it will attract much of an audience in the U.S. and, if it does, I would wager that more film-goers will subscribe to my judgment than to that of those who seem willing to give it a higher grade simply because it comes from Israel. I've seen a lot of Israeli films and this is easily the worst.