Alila (2004)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:17
Fresh:7
Rotten:10
Average Rating:5.3/10
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 But recently, Schwartz's treasured silence has been replaced by a cacophony of bangs, loud sounds and aggressive voices.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
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Reviews for Alila
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Gitai delivers an amazing film every bit as satisfying as his masterpiece Kippur (2001). Full Review |
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Suggesting that the strain of the Arab conflict has gotten to the Israelis and that peace might only be a pipe dream. Full Review |
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...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 |
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It's a bit of a mess. Full Review |
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For all its flaws, Alila is an interesting social issue film. Full Review |
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It's too acerbic to be funny and too detached to be really moving. Full Review |
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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 |
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For non-Israeli audiences, Alila is an alternately illuminating and confounding glimpse into seldom-seen aspects of the country. Full Review |
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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 |
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Gitaļ's portrait of self-destructive lives is certainly honest, but his direction is suffocating. Full Review |
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None of the characters or situations truly manages to hold our attention, though there are some arresting moments. Full Review |
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Extremely well-acted and generally absorbing. Full Review |
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Gitai ... records the comings and goings with a keen eye. Full Review |
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Another piece of essential viewing for outsiders trying to understand life in the Middle East. Full Review |
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An interesting, if not entirely successful, adaptation of an excellent book. Full Review |
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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 |
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