Search - Out of Sight on DVD

Insightful and deeply moving film

Alexander | Chicago IL | 07/08/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I saw this film at an international film festival in Chicago, and after that I just had to own the DVD. This film is a suspense drama, and without giving away the secret of the plot, it's difficult to write as much as one would like. I can only say this: rarely does a film present such a sensitive and poignant portrayal of teenage girls. The suspense of the present is balanced by the lyrical and funny flashbacks to the past, until they, too, grow ominous. When all the lines of the plot connect, the director surprises us once again with what must be one of the most moving endings. The star of the film was brilliant, but the teenage actresses really stole the performance. A must see!"

Goes on to my list of must-see Israeli releases (it's gettin

Andy Orrock | Dallas, TX | 02/16/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I really enjoyed this under-appreciated Israeli movie (originally released there in 2006 under the Hebrew title 'Lemarit Ain'). I have the urge to subtitle this movie "the undeniable adorableness of Tali Sharon." She plays the female lead, Ya'ara. Blind, beautiful, fiesty, intelligent - PhD in math at Princeton no less - writer Noa Greenberg has crafted a compelling character. About Ms. Sharon: She's one of the character arcs in In Treatment (Be'Tipul) - The Complete First Season (Hebrew)...the show upon which In Treatment: The Complete First Season is based. Other than that, she seems scandalously under-utilized. Maybe she's the poor man's Ayelet Zurer, the original Ice Princess.

As the movie progressed, another realization: this is a taut, interesting story Greenberg has written here, one that director Daniel Syrkin stages with considerable skill. This is not quite the stuff of the great Eran Riklis or of Eytan Fox, but it's a very well-crafted movie nevertheless. For example, Syrkin needs to stage a number of flashbacks to the young Ya'ara (Avigail Harari, equally adorable) and Talia. I just saw The Brothers Bloom and my advice on that movie was: don't give up it because of the initial flashback (because it doesn't measure up). No such worries on 'Out of Sight' - the flashbacks are every bit as good as the main narrative.

And now, my updated list of Israeli 'must see' movies (not all the movies I've seen make this list)...

[Amazon limits me to 10 links per review, so I'll provide a few here to bring me to 10 - I encourage you to see all these really nice films.]

1a. Walk on Water [directed by Eytan Fox]
1b. The Syrian Bride [Eran Riklis]
3. Lemon Tree [Eran Riklis]
4. Broken Wings [Nir Bergman - who went to super-stardom with his directing and writing on "Be'Tipul"]
5. The Band's Visit [Eran Kolirin - also deeply involved in "Be'Tipul"]
6. Bonjour Monsieur Shlomi [Shemi Zarhin]
7. Late Marriage [Dover Koshashvili]
8. Time of Favor [Joseph Cedar]
9. Yossi & Jagger [Eytan Fox]
10. The Bubble [Eytan Fox]
11. Jellyfish (Meduzot) (Meduzot) [Shira Geffen, Etgar Keret]
12. Or, My Treasure [Keren Yedaya]
13. Beaufort [Joseph Cedar]
14. Out of Sight [Daniel Syrkin]
15. Nina's Tragedies [Savi Gavison]
16. Yana's Friends [Arik Kaplun]
17. My First War [Yariv Mozer]

The movie I'm dying to see: "The Mission of the Human Resources Manager" - Eran Riklis' take on A. B. Yehoshua's fine novel, A Woman in Jerusalem. IMDb tells me it's in production for a 2010 release."