Happy Holidays

Saw this at IFFR 2025, the yearly film festival in Rotterdam. Indeed, as the IFFR website wrote: "Filmmaker Scandar Copti examines the tangled web of deceit that arises from the intersection of state institutions, societal pressures and cultural conventions." This movie is part family drama and part social commentary, two complex topics given the political situation within Israel and its different religious under currents.

On the other hand, an over-bearing mother figure who is prominently present from the start, refusing to economize on her daughter's wedding and defying the financial difficulties of her husband, is not limited to Israel and is seen world-wide. Similarly, she blocks selling the house, though inevitable due to business problems of her husband. It is "keeping up appearances" all along, for example the fuss she makes when her credit card is declined. I'm still wondering whether she got the loan she asked for in one bank, as we saw her later entering another bank; the loan was intended to defuse the struggle around the costs of the wedding.

Regrettably, the story telling is foggy. What exactly the issue is with Fifi's medical records, going at every length to prevent getting it in the hands of her parents, remains unclear too long. We can outguess that it involves her sex life (and failed pregnancy) in the past and particularly having had an intimate relationship with an Arab. It gives rise to many actions from the mother to covertly obtain the medical records via a known insider. Conversely, we see an even so failed attempt by Fifi to alter it, and other evasive actions to keep the truth for her parents. Her mother is so overly assertive, wanting everything done her way, preferably first thing today or at least tomorrow, and won't hear anything else. It leads me to conclude that the real drama is actually about the mother's behavior, and that Fifi is a mere bystander.

On a positive note, the actions of the nearly engaged couple when it eventually becomes clear that marriage is not on the horizon, are remarkable and very well thought out by the filmmakers. He is very adamant about breaking the relationship because of her previous sex life, but she approaches him nevertheless with an attempt to rekindle, which he flatly denies (even disgusted to think about it). The next day, after a night's sleep, the tables are turned when he approaches her, which she flatly refused on her turn. It might have been difficult for them both to defy their respective parents, but the situation does not arise, at least not in this movie. A pity, as this could have been a better plot than what we had now. It would have yielded a totally different story, more interesting even, built on the same building blocks already present.

Nothing wrong with casting/acting, but the generous running time and the shortcomings in the storytelling lead to a score 3/5 for the audience award. Maybe the plot is a bit too complicated to follow what is happening at prima vista, resulting in interactions inside and between the respective families confusing me several times. Finally, the obvious fact that this movie is programmed in a time of shifting opinions around Israel and their foreign policies, does nothing to add to its value (for me, that is), though I assume that many will disagree.

Watched this movie at TIFF yesterday.

Little did I know about Scandar before the film, read a bit about him while on my way to the theatre. Throughout the film, the storyline, the characters(Fifi, Rami and Shirley in particular) started dwelling on me. Scandar has edited this and wrote the screenplay as well. This movie primarily focuses on the lives of a Palestinian family and how the chaos keeps intertwining as the film progresses. There is subtleness depicting the lives of this Arab family with the Jews, and the Arabic and Hebrew dialogues form a well woven story that the viewers - like me- can easily rest their head on.

After the movie I got an opportunity to speak with Scandar and I thanked him for making this film. This movie is a gift for all of us who keep interest in the conflicted region, and is a gateway to see the region from a first hand perspective of this film maker who belongs there. Scandar currently is based in Abu Dhabi however. Next on my list is Ajami, Scandar's first movie.

The actors casted by Scandar is his film were all actually non-actors, and from what Scandar told all of us during the QnA that he conducted workshops with these actors to set them up for success. The scenes in this movie have been shot in a documentary style, where everything happening in a scene is actually taking place, and there are 2 DOPs present capturing all of it. So a scene's total duration could be 4 hours - but then Scandar cut it down to the length needed. This is a truly remarkable style for me, and puts Scandar on my list of directors to look out for in the future.