Valeria Mithatenet

This movie won Israel's annual award for Best Screenplay. The screenplay is written with considerable restraint, which presumably was all right with the director because the director wrote the screenplay. Often the audience's attention is held by a tight focus that picks out one character-- not necessarily the speaker-- while leaving the others blurry; the device works well to avoid distractions and monotony in the setting of a little apartment. There is also a musical soundtrack-- a string quartet, sometimes louder than necessary. The story is about two couples-- one brand new, the other ostensibly stable but subject to collateral damage from the tribulations of the new one. Valeria, the character, has just come to Israel and, interestingly, the actress herself is not an immigrant playing a new arrival but a complete foreigner, chosen in order not to unwittingly display any sense of belonging. The audience sympathizes with her while finding her a little inscrutable. (At least that's my take; my wife considers the character's motivations quite clear.) She says little, and it's the other three actors who all received best-of-year nominations. The film comes in a bit under 90 minutes, and if you're content to watch that long without car chases, nude scenes, and vampires, I recommend it.