In the days before Yom Kippur (aka the Day of Atonement), Zak Pikler takes his pregnant girlfriend, Delphina, to find his estranged father in the family drama Tickling Leo, written and directed by Jeremy Davidson. When they reach the man's home in the Catskills, Zak finds that his father has turned into a hermit and is suffering from dementia. But the problems in the present only mask those in the past, causing his father to revisit the Holocaust and his escape from Hungary. Produced by actress
and director Mary Stuart Masterson, Tickling Leo stars Daniel Sauli, Annie Parisse, Lawrence Pressman, and Eli Wallach. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi
Although strongly acted and deeply felt, writer-director Jeremy Davidson's arcanely titled Tickling Leo is too theatrically conceived and diffusely told to satisfy its lofty aspirations.
The film's rich performances, in which every shade of every character's emotions registers, can go only so far to camouflage the glaring lapses in a drama that often confuses hints and allusions with coherent storytelling.
Briefly in theaters now, Tickling Leo -- the title makes little sense -- will undoubtedly disappear quickly, only to have a faltering second life at small film festivals. You'll miss little if you pass it by.
[Pressman's] performance ... as the increasingly demented poet and Holocaust survivor Warren Pikler, gives us the man Warren was, is and will be. It isn't easy, but like a long line drive, it's a great thing to watch.
less an integrated film project than a collection of actors' audition tapes, high energy exercises that look impressive individually but compiled together in a film are nothing short of ridiculous.
Ostensibly about Holocaust guilt, writer/director Jeremy Davidson's poorly scripted, filmed, and executed drama plays out like an unfinished low budget soap opera.
In beautifully photographed settings, brings together an excellent cast, which almost overcomes the film's very labored themes, but an unconvincing debut feature.
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