Twenty years ago, Amos Gitai was one of the flagships of an Israeli cinema that had not yet crossed borders.
His first films opened the door to worldwide fame.
But in the last ten years, while Israeli cinema has become known through other directors, Amos Gitai's artistic vein has dried up.
Always working with the same scriptwriter and always in the same catch-all drawer. What a bore this "Tramway in Jerusalem" is, with a succession of sketches according to the schedule.
Most of the time, the conversations lead to nothingness, without any depth. The city of Jerusalem is never highlighted because we suffocate in this transport where situations go from one to the other. In short, it's messy, confused. Unfortunately, we find here the usual background of Gitai, namely, the bashing of Israel and the denunciation of the living conditions of the poor Palestinians occupied by the Israelis, making fun of the nationalists so proud of their army. One really wonders how the great Yaël Abecassis could have fallen into the absurd discourse of Amos Gitaï. As for Mathieu Amalric, a very good actor, there are about thirty years but he does not renew himself, he is as empty as his exorbitantly blissful eyes. The other actors are interchangeable, no interest. A French actress, Anne Parillaud, said of Amos Gitai that he was a dictator on the set. I would add spoiled child! These are certainly a few leads to follow in order to understand the emptiness of Amos Gitai's films in recent years.
