07/07/2022 - In his second feature, Israeli director Ofir Raul Grazier crafts another psychologically complex, thought-provoking story about relationships, with a strong sensual throughline

Israeli director Ofir Raul Grazier returns to the Karlovy Vary competition after 2017's The Cakemaker [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ofir Raul Graizer
film profile] with his sophomore effort, America [+see also:
trailer
interview: Ofir Raul Grazier
film profile]. It is another cleverly structured, psychologically complex story about relationships, holding back a well-measured amount of information to keep the viewer guessing – and, just like the director's debut, it puts a strong accent on sensuality and tactility.

When Eli (Michael Moshonov) gets a call from a lawyer to inform him about the death of his father, whom he hasn't been in touch with for more than ten years, he is working as a swimming coach in Chicago. Now it's time to go back to Tel Aviv to take care of the inheritance – that is, the family house that Eli had left in favour of the States as soon as he was of legal age.

Back in Israel, Eli immediately reconnects with his closest childhood friend, Yotam (Ofri Biterman), who is now running a flower shop with his fiancée, Iris (Oshrat Ingedashet). For old times' sake, the two mates visit a creek where they played as kids. While Eli is napping, Yotam slips and hits his head on a rock, ending up in a vegetative state.

Ten months later, Eli is still in Tel Aviv, renovating the house before selling it. Iris's shop is debt-ridden, and when her fiancé’s friend invites her to design his garden, she welcomes the gig. One of the rare things that we actually see coming in the film is that the two will become closer and fall in love. And when Yotam suddenly wakes up after another six months, everyone will have to re-evaluate their positions and feelings – and Eli does so by completely and unexpectedly harshly cutting off contact with the old-new couple.

Every character carries weighty baggage from their childhoods, but Eli is the one we wonder about the most. It is indicated that his father, a war hero and decorated police officer, used to abuse his wife, which might have resulted in her suicide. This is probably the source of the hidden rage we detect in Moshonov's impressive performance, with his subtle body language accentuated by Lilu Godfine's costume design. But there is probably more to it: Yotam's mother tells Iris that the two boys always had an uncannily close relationship, calling it "telepathic".

Ingedashet’s character is no less remarkable, as a child of religious and strict Ethiopian parents, whose upbringing resulted in her resistance to institutions and authorities. But Grazier almost imperceptibly implies how the racial aspect affects her behaviour without ever putting her in any obvious situations that would spell it out.

While in The Cakemaker, the director dialled up the sensuality of the picture with the tactility of preparing and enjoying food, in America, this role is fulfilled by flowers and herbs (one can almost smell the sage when Iris brings it to the comatose Yotam), and of course, by the water splashing off young, swimming bodies.

Omri Aloni's classical, wide-screen cinematography highlights bright colours that are as tangible as the film's rock-solid structure. Again, as in his debut, Grazier combines all of these elements to create a thought-provoking, complex story that is often narratively ambiguous but is emotionally crystal clear.

America is a co-production between Israel's Laila Films, Germany's Schiwago Film and the Czech Republic's Mimesis Film. Munich-based Beta Cinema has the international rights.