Antarctica

I just saw this film in the Philadelphia gay and lesbian film festival. I thought it was a pretty decent movie.

The film starts with a guy bringing different men every night in his apartment. Every man has shown to be with some peculiar features. After first five minutes the film moves 3 years and starts showing life of few people in the city of Tel Aviv some of whom eventually turn out to be men whom this character sleeps with. Omer, a young guy soon to turn 30 works as a librarian and is looking for his love. He meets Danny for a blind date which goes well but he thinks that Danny is too young for him. Danny lives with Ronen, his ex-boyfriend who is a journalist and often visits the library. Omer and Ronen have noticed each other. Then we have Shirley, Omer's little sister. Aside from being Omer's greatest annoyance, she is in an unconventional relationship with, Michal, owner of the city's hippest coffeehouse and her boss. She breaks u her wedding with Michal at the last moment because she wants to travel the world specially Antarctica. Omer's best friend goes on a date with Ronen and have god time and sex. One day in library Ronen invite Omer to go with him to a meeting They realize that they have lots in common with each other but cant do anything about it. Finally the day comes when Omer's mother invites Omer, Shirley, Michal and Omer's friend for his birthday. His friend invites along Ronen and thats where Omer and Ronen realize that they are meant for each other. There are some side stories about Danny, his 3 year old hook up and now his dance instructor and about a crazy writer who believes that aliens talk to her. The film ends with how some people win their love and how some people are just left alone.

The performances in the film were really good. I thought it was something different but the only problem was there were too many characters and their relationship with each other became confusing after a certain point. Ronen was very hot looking and Omer was like the boy next door. I thought he was cute to. The film was with good production values. Its hard to point any flaws in the movie but at the same time it did not make me clap for it.

Another time, another day, I might watch it again.

I had pretty high expectations of this movie after reading a very short synopsis; I really like ensemble movies and 'Antarctica' being a gay movie and from Israel added to the attraction (I see a lot of Hollywood movies as well). I came out pretty disappointed.

There was very little story in this and hardly any substance. I found it rather shallow while the premise was full of possibilities for an engrossing film. There is great potential in ensemble movies but only when a director and/or a writer know what to do with it… clearly in this case there could have been much more of a plot if the writer had left out a couple of characters and had focused on the remaining ones for some depth and background.

I am somebody who enjoys striking images - by which I do not mean pictures of sunsets and lavish homes, but images that, whether they are pretty of ugly, enhance the story - but there was no beauty at all to be found in this movie. I am not referring to the cast because some of them were actually rather handsome, but the sets: apartments, kitchens, streets, surroundings… nothing spoke to me. It looked like nobody had been hired for cinematography. Now I am aware of the budget factor but there is a big gap between lush Hollywood sets and cramped TL-lit spaces. From where I was sitting a little more attention to imagery would not have distracted from the story; it would probably have enhanced it.

But the one thing I could not get over was the casting of the character 'Omer's Mother'. This person was so ridiculously out of place that it hurt. I sincerely wonder what the deal was here because I cannot believe that any casting director who takes themselves seriously would voluntarily cast this character the way it was done, destroying any credibility the movie had to begin with.

'Antarctica' in my view is mediocre at best, I give it 5 out of 10.

In 'Antarctica', director Yair Hochner tries to create a film in the same style Milos Forman used many times: an array of characters, seem to be unconnected; and then towards the end of the film they all come together somehow.

Well, Films like that can be very good if you direct them with refinement and intelligence; and you have a great script and cast to match.

This can only partially be said on 'Antarctica'. It is in a way interesting to watch the behaviour of young gay men & women in a country like Israel; We do not see much of that. But then you find they sort of behave in the same way as they would in another western country; This story could have taken place in Rome or Madrid or Amsterdam. Apart from the fact the characters spoke Hebrew, I could not find any special Israeli angle that would make this feature worth seeing even more.

So we are left with just the story proper.

I do tend to agree some scenes were too long - the bar scenes for example - and some too short. Some characters were developed more then others; and only towards half way you actually discover who in fact is the lead character..which I found puzzling.

I would have preferred the film concentrating on Omer (the lead) as for me he was the most intriguing character, and less on his sister for example; or the guy from the first act in the film, which eventually had very little to do with the plot, except the fact most male characters went through his bed. And for the life of me I could not understand why they used a man to portray Omer's mom?

But this film is still worth watching if only to discover the lead actor, Tomer Ilan. This young man had obviously a lot of talent; he sparkles intelligence and that even makes him more good looking then he already is. Great actor casting, and I hope we will see more of him.

The rest of the cast is quite good, although they was no need for brilliant acting in this film.

To summarise: great little film to watch on your DVD player on a cold evening off.

8 of 10 from me.

if one forgets for a moment that love relationships shown in the movies are homosexual and not heterosexual, it is a simple film about people trying to find love and till they find one keep on trying. There is central character who is librarian and group of his friends and similar individuals they come across.in all there are 5 main male character and they are developed well given the time constraint, especially the journalist, librarian, the young boy and the Casanova. sub plot of hero's sister also being lesbian or their father being cross dresser seems unnecessary. there are comic moments though when their mother gets a new husband or one of the the character who works at a fashion store cracks jokes. Overall a good movie about love, commitment and relationship

Unclear as to why Israel has such a repertoire of gay films, but they all seem to have one thing in common: a very conceited, shallow, self-centered protagonist. In this case, the writer attempts to have the hedonistic protagonist come off as having a "heart" or soft-spot, when he allows an old "fling" (who was apparently the first guy the young lad had ever hooked up with) stay with him. The dialogue is pretty meaningless, but as they say in Hebrew, "it sounds funnier in Yiddish". But mostly, the film is just a bunch of blurry fast-paced sex-scenes with hairy Jewish men. If that's your thing, then this is the film for you.