More than I could have expected. Until recently, I somehow did not pay attention to the festival paintings, all these loud signs: Cannes, Berlin, Venice, London, Toronto ... I heard only from the edge of my ear. However, with age, tastes change, and mainstream cinema in our time more and more often only disappoints. Therefore, “A Week and a Day” is one of the founders of a new tradition of film viewing.
Asaf Polonski makes his debut as a director and screenwriter and immediately achieves serious success – the film was selected as the “official choice of critics”, and at the festival itself received an incentive grant from the Gan foundation, having also been nominated for “best debut” and “press choice”.
The main character of the film is Eyal Spivak, a man in his years who loses his child and conducts a standard Jewish ritual of mourning at 7 days (Shiva). Eyal and his wife, Vicki, and I are experiencing their tragedy during the last day of mourning and the next day. This is the title of the film.
The picture is shot in the already classic, modern style of arthouse - a realistic presentation of material with a subtle touch of cinema, a measured course of events and an emphasis on the personal experiences of the characters. Morality in this parable is also present, of very high quality, among other things.
Everyone copes with grief in different ways, so our married couple is no exception to this: Vicky tries to live on - work at school, running in the park, taking a dentist - a routine; but Eyal is a completely different test - he hates all this, he believes, nonsense and annoyed by the alleged grief of friends. Jokingly, neighbors Shmulik and Keren have sex so loudly that you can hear half a block around (nothing to say, a worthy background for mourning), and their son-planokur Zuler managed to be late for Shiva. They, like other friends and relatives, believe that they can buy off all this food - and carry everything, carry, carry - salads, sushi and other cooking, which is soon destined to go to the garbage. "Thank you, tell your wife that the salad was delicious," Vicki tells Shmulik.
Eyal may not be so different from his wife in terms of the feelings he feels, but he cannot try on the mask of Zen Buddhism and then and then breaks down, responding to the naked impudence of others.
In this film, I was surprised and interested in two things: the first is the cynicism of everyday life, which becomes the leitmotif in the main part of the picture, changing to philosophical peace and acceptance of everything as it is in the last third of the story; the second is the already announced calmness and wisdom of Vicki. I confess that it was very pleasant to observe not the classic quarrels, but the understanding and acceptance by the wife of her husband’s defiant behavior, especially during such a difficult period for both of them. As for cynicism, I don’t know what Polonsky wanted to show us, whether it is real sketches of Israeli life, its inherent coldness and prudence, such a stone in the garden of public indifference to the problems of his neighbor, or maybe it is just a suitable environment for revealing the image of the main character. I think the first option is better.
Eyal, not knowing what to do next with his life, using a temporary vacation at work, decides to move along the famous path - goes to the hospice, the ward where his son died, supposedly to pick up a previously forgotten blanket of all colors of the rainbow, but instead finds a new patient, a mother supported by daughter Bar, and is surprised to find that a whole package of unused medical cannabis was left in one of the boxes. The seemingly typical act of a grieving father gives an impetus to Eyal’s acceptance of life as it is. In this he is invaluable help is provided by the cheerful Bar, and, yes, the very Zuler, with whom, in the literal sense of the word, having smoked a pipe of peace (job, in fact), Spivak understands that he has found a real friend.
The finale of the picture is both sad, but also life-affirming, showing why and why you need to live on and philosophically look at everything that happens to you.
From the point of view of “technique” I liked everything, both the camera work and the acting – all worked on “excellent”, but I would like to highlight Evgenia Dodina as the wife of Vicki Spivak and her correct life philosophy, as well as Tomer Capon in the role of Zooler – a colorful character, which is only worth his playing an air guitar high. This character is a much needed détente in such heavy films.
A great start, I hope that Polonski will please us more than once with the same quality work.
8 out of 10