RottenTomatoes.com
Log In | Register | What is RT?
RT's Blu-ray HQ
  • Home
  • Movies
  • DVD
  • Celebrities
  • News
  • Critics
  • Trailers & Pictures
  • CommunityBeta
  • Box Office
  • | In Theaters
  • | Opening
  • | Upcoming
  • | Best Of
  • | Certified Fresh
  • | Showtimes
RT Search Powered by Google
help icon Enhanced RT
searches on Google
Click here to turn on enhanced search results from RT on your Google searches.
 
Movies / On DVD / Alila
Alila

Rate this Movie Help Icon

  • Write a Review
  • Read Reviews
  • Add to List
  • Get this Movie
  • Buy Poster External Icon
  • Visit Official Site External Icon
Bookmark and Share

Alila (2004)

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
41 %
Tomatometer
Template ImageTemplate Image

How does the Tomatometer work Help Icon

Reviews Counted:17

Fresh:7

Rotten:10

Average Rating:5.3/10

Rated: Not Rated

Runtime: 2 hrs 3 mins

Genre: Foreign Films

Theatrical Release:Feb 27, 2004 Limited

Synopsis: Amos Gitai's ALILA intertwines the stories of over a dozen distinct characters who inhabit an apartment complex located in a rundown neighborhood of Tel Aviv. Holocaust survivor Schwartz (Yosef... Amos Gitai's ALILA intertwines the stories of over a dozen distinct characters who inhabit an apartment complex located in a rundown neighborhood of Tel Aviv. Holocaust survivor Schwartz (Yosef Carmon) has enjoyed a peaceful existence living in his small apartment with Linda (Lyn Shiao Zamir), a young Filipino who comes regularly to give him medication and company. But recently, Schwartz's treasured silence has been replaced by a cacophony of bangs, loud sounds and aggressive voices. One of the many obtrusive men audible to Schwartz is Hezi (Amos Lavie). He recently rented one of the nearby apartments in the building for a secret rendezvous with a beautiful and self-deprecating woman named Gabi (Yael Abelcassis). Their intense, unequal and often-violent love affair turns Gabi's life into a public and dissonant garble of psychological pain and physical pleasure. Also disrupting Schwartz's rest is a group of illegal Chinese construction workers who expand one of the apartments into the courtyard, without the landlord's permission. Divorcee Mali (Hanna Laslo) has her own problems as well. Their neighbors' construction workers have been contracted by her ex-husband Ezra (Uri Klauzner), who is himself unwilling to give up his regular rapport with Mali and let her continue her life with a new young boyfriend. And to make matters worse, their son Eyal (Amit Mestechkin) is missing after having deserted his military service. -- © Kino International [More]

Starring: Uri Ran Klauzner, Yael Abecassis, Ronit Elkabetz, Amos Lavie

Starring: Uri Ran Klauzner, Yael Abecassis, Ronit Elkabetz, Amos Lavie, Liron Levo, Hanna Laslo, Lup Berkowitch, Yosef Carmon, Amit Mestechkin, Lyn Shiao Zamir

Director: Amos Gitai

Director: Amos Gitai
Screenwriter: Amos Gitai, Marie-Jose Sanselme
Producer: Amos Gitai
Studio: Kino International

[See More Credits]

Get This Movie

Rent DVD
 
 

Click on the "ADD" button to put this movie into your Netflix queue.

 
 
Buy DVD
 
 
Release:

Nov 9, 2004

No Details Exist
 
 

Reviews for Alila

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by rotten rating)
Text View | 1 2 >> >|
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Boston Phoenix | comment Comment
07/05/05
Boston Phoenix
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: AV Club | comment Comment
06/05/04
AV Club
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
04/02/09
David Rooney
David Rooney
Variety
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Village Voice | comment Comment
02/24/04
Michael Atkinson
Michael Atkinson
Village Voice
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

...Gitai has populated the story with one unlikable character after another, making it impossible for the viewer to connect with anything on screen.

Full Review Source: Reel Film Reviews | comment Comment
08/21/04
David Nusair
David Nusair
Reel Film Reviews

Suggesting that the strain of the Arab conflict has gotten to the Israelis and that peace might only be a pipe dream.

Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | comment Comment
11/24/04
Dennis Schwartz
Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

Gitaļ's portrait of self-destructive lives is certainly honest, but his direction is suffocating.

Full Review Source: City Pages, Minneapolis/St. Paul | comment Comment
04/22/04
Ed Gonzalez
Ed Gonzalez
City Pages, Minneapolis/St. Paul

Though absorbing enough, Alila must be counted a noble failure, if only because its efforts to follow the screwed-up lives of 12 hapless souls in a seedy Tel Aviv apartment building finally add up more to mere mimicry than commentary.

Full Review Source: L.A. Weekly | comment Comment
06/10/04
Ella Taylor
Ella Taylor
L.A. Weekly

None of the characters or situations truly manages to hold our attention, though there are some arresting moments.

Full Review Source: Hollywood Reporter | comment Comment
03/04/04
Frank Scheck
Frank Scheck
Hollywood Reporter

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | comment Comment
05/17/04
Greg Muskewitz
Greg Muskewitz
eFilmCritic.com

It's too acerbic to be funny and too detached to be really moving.

Full Review Source: Globe and Mail | comment Comment
07/30/04
Liam Lacey
Liam Lacey
Globe and Mail
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

It's a bit of a mess.

Full Review Source: Toronto Star | comment Comment
07/30/04
Peter Howell
Peter Howell
Toronto Star
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

For non-Israeli audiences, Alila is an alternately illuminating and confounding glimpse into seldom-seen aspects of the country.

Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine | comment Comment
06/10/04
Sheri Linden
Sheri Linden
Boxoffice Magazine

Amos Gitai's acidly comic study of life in a flimsy Tel Aviv apartment complex is a sour urban mosaic whose seedy characters, try as they might, can't get out of one another's faces.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
02/26/04
Stephen Holden
Stephen Holden
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Another piece of essential viewing for outsiders trying to understand life in the Middle East.

Full Review Source: E! Online | comment Comment
02/26/04
E! Online

For all its flaws, Alila is an interesting social issue film.

Full Review Source: Jam! Movies | comment Comment
07/30/04
Bruce Kirkland
Bruce Kirkland
Jam! Movies

Gitai delivers an amazing film every bit as satisfying as his masterpiece Kippur (2001).

Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | comment Comment
02/01/05
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid

An interesting, if not entirely successful, adaptation of an excellent book.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
02/26/04
Ken Fox
Ken Fox
TV Guide's Movie Guide

The story and even the characters turn out to be less interesting than the overview it gives us of the way Israelis live now, its portrait of a dislocated society where despair rumbles beneath the surface of everyday life.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | comment Comment
06/10/04
Kenneth Turan
Kenneth Turan
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Extremely well-acted and generally absorbing.

Full Review Source: Film Journal International | comment Comment
03/02/04
Lewis Beale
Lewis Beale
Film Journal International
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by rotten rating)
Text View | 1 2 >> >|
See All

More DVDs

Close
Top Rentals
Tomatometer Percentage Movie
66% 66% Public Enemies
83% 83% Harry Potter and the H…
44% 44% Night at the Museum: B…
75% 75% Julie & Julia
32% 32% Terminator Salvation

More Rentals…

New On DVD This Week
Tomatometer Percentage Movie
88% 88% Inglourious Basterds
78% 78% The Hangover
49% 49% Taking Woodstock
26% 26% The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard
47% 47% The Girl From Monaco

More New Releases…

See All

RT On Current TV

The Rotten Tomatoes Show on Current TV

DIRECTV 358 | Comcast 107 | DISH Network 196 | More...

Learn how you can be part of the show

More...

What’s Hot On RT

James Cameron

James Cameron

We look at the Avatar director's career

Alice in Wonderland

Alice in Wonderland

Check out the brand new trailer now!

Golden Globes

Golden Globes

Up in the Air leads with 6 noms!

Nominee Gallery

Nominee Gallery

See who got nominated for Golden Globes!

Other News

Close
  • Top Stories
  • Popular
  • Interviews
 
 

Comments

 
 
Top Stories
Headlines Comments
  
  • How Avatar Happened: The Path to Innovation Source: CinemaBlend.com
15
  • Rob Marshall Says Pirates 4 Is Still a Maybe Source: ComingSoon.net
28
  • ET Teases Iron Man 2 Teaser Source: Collider.com
28
  • Tobey Maguire Refutes Hobbit Rumors Source: Hollywood Reporter
9
  • Prince of Persia Featurette Posted Source: Yahoo! Movies
4
  • Trailer Bulletin: Robin Hood Source: ComingSoon.net
61
  • Mel Gibson Plans a Mexican Vacation Source: Variety
8
  • New Iron Man 2 Clue Posted Source: Screen Rant
26
  • Gibson and DiCaprio are Going Norse Source: HitFix
78
  • Lord of the Rings Coming to Blu-ray April 6 Source: Hollywood Reporter
8
Popular
Headlines Comments
  
  • Tomatometer Watch: Will Avatar Live Up To The Hype?
236
  • Awards Tour 2009: Golden Globe Noms Here!
140
  • Box Office Guru Wrapup: Girlpower Rules Again with Princess at #1
70
  • Awards Tour 2009: Inglourious Basterds Lead Critics Choice Noms
43
  • Awards Tour 2009: Avatar Best Picture at NYFCO!
38
  • Weekly Ketchup: James Cameron Plans a Fantastic Voyage
33
  • The Effects of Where the Wild Things Are
30
  • Total Recall: James Cameron Movies
26
  • Robert Downey Jr. talks Sherlock Holmes & Iron Man 2 - RT Interview
21
  • Critics Consensus: Princess, Invictus Are Certified Fresh
21
Interviews
Headlines Comments
  
  • Robert Downey Jr. talks Sherlock Holmes & Iron Man 2 - RT Interview
21
  • Director Ruben Fleischer Talks Zombieland
2
  • "I Don't Hate Women": Lars von Trier on Antichrist
17
  • Eric Bana talks Love the Beast - RT Interview
12
  • Fight Club Sound Designer Reflects on Film's 10th Anniversary
23
  • James Schamus talks Taking Woodstock - RT Interview
8
  • John Hurt Talks Harry Potter, Quentin Crisp and Alien - The RT Interview
15
  • Terry Gilliam Talks Doctor Parnassus
23
  • Wes Anderson Talks Fantastic Mr. Fox - RT Interview
9
  • Wolverine Creator Len Wein Talks About the Film
28
 
 

Sponsored Links

Around The Network

  • Alila at Rotten Tomatoes
  • Alila at AskMen

Fresh Links

Featured
MSN's Year in Review
MSN's Year in Review External Link

Take a look at MSN's choices for the Top 10 films of 2009.

40 Best Films of the 2000s
40 Best Films of the 2000s External Link

Last week, Moviefone offered us their worst films of the 2000s. Now see their 40 best!

Tarantino's Characters
Tarantino's Characters External Link

Hollywood.com explores why QT's characters resonate so well with audiences.

10 Questions For Zac Efron
10 Questions For Zac Efron External Link

The Me and Orson Welles star answers reader questions on TIME.com.

Top 20 of the Decade
Top 20 of the Decade External Link

Click through to see which movies BuzzSugar placed in their Best-of-Decade list!

Promos
Follow RT on Twitter
Follow RT on Twitter External Link

Get the latest Tomatometer updates on upcoming movies!

 
 
About| Site Map| Help| RT To Go| Contact Us| Critics Submission| Linking to RT| Licensing| Movie List| Games| Celebs List| Newsletter
IGN Logo

IGN.com | GameSpy | Comrade | Arena | FilePlanet | GameSpy Technology
TeamXbox | Planets | Vaults | VE3D | CheatsCodesGuides | GameStats | GamerMetrics
AskMen.com | Rotten Tomatoes | Direct2Drive | Green Pixels


By continuing past this page, and by the continued use of this site, you agree to be bound by and abide by the User Agreement.
Copyright 1998-2009, IGN Entertainment, Inc. About IGN | Support | Advertise | Privacy Policy | User Agreement | Subscribe to RT's XML feed! IGN RSS Feeds
IGN's enterprise databases running Oracle, SQL and MySQL are professionally monitored and managed by Pythian Remote DBA
Certain product data ©1995-present Muze, Inc. For personal use only. All rights reserved.