"Giraffes" is very much in the spirit of the French New Wave films and unlike any other Israeli film I have ever seen. It begins as a set of coincidences in which three young women inhabiting the same apartment house are accidentally paired off with men other than those they expect to meet. The women don't know the men they are expecting and the men don't know the women. At first, the sequences in the film are plausibly real. Later, they shade off into fiction and after a while, what is supposed to be "real" and what is supposed to be "fiction" becomes (deliberately) unclear. While the movie is long (and several of the people I saw it with found it boring), I thought it was fascinating and would have been interested in listening to a discussion among the 75 or so people in the room as to what they made of it. One of the original pairings ends with a murder; did the young woman kill the man, a taxi driver, or was he killed by a mysterious stranger? Is the story told by that young woman to the lawyer who was supposed to be her "blind date" but ended up with another woman, an actress, true or false? The third young woman, who ended up acting in the role intended for the actress and who becomes a hidden witness to the consultation between the lawyer and his "client," begins by writing down the story she overhears and then turns it into a film script. Where does the fictional portion of the script begin? Randomness, the theme of a radio talk by a physics professor that is recurrently heard, is the underlying concept and the boundary between reality and fiction is the central theme. This is a puzzle movie and -- like the French films of a by-gone era -- the puzzle is not easily sorted out. But it is definitely worth trying. There's a good deal of sex -- between the lawyer and the actress, who live together for a while, between the lawyer and his client, who won't allow him to see her face, between the writer and the policeman (a long-time friend of the lawyer's) who is trying to solve the murder. It's really quite a stew, but nourishing in its way and very challenging.
3 Reviews
A Hebrew Film a la francaise: Possible Spoilers.
gelman@attglobal.net14 October 2006
Warning: Spoilers
the art of coincidence
eyal philippsborn18 August 2002
Trying to explain the movie's plot without giving in major plot developments is like trying to describe the Niagara falls without using the word "waterfall" but i'll try anyway. the movie revolves around three young women living in the same building in tel aviv, Israel. Daphne (liat glick- great performance) is an actress who goes to a movie late night shoot only to find out that she was picked up by a young lawyer thinking she was his blind date. In the meantime, the real (and stood up) blind date goes on a tour in tel aviv with a friendly taxi driver (it's an oxymoron in israel, too). Meanwhile, a young frustrated female reporter (acted by tinkerbell, that is her name on the credits)is accidentally picked up for the midnight movie shoot, instead of Daphne, the actress on the accidental blind date. Confused? don't worry, these are just the first fifteen minutes of the film. in the rest of the film, the plot will thicken, bond with sub plots of the film and will be untied (partially) in the end. This film is a feature about fringe "left of center" characters which populate many israeli films. this film, like "late marriage" , indicates a breath of fresh air in israeli film. it's less about politics and more about people (which is fine by me). One problem that israeli films are yet to overcome is what i refer too as the problem of provinciality. the film fluctuates between good and mediocre acting, between cute and funny scenes (accompanied with a very good script)on the one hand and hallucination scenes (can't elaborate, sorry) that seem more off place than off beat on the other. This movie is not without it's flaws but it's overall good film, and it poses a worthy alternative to most of the movies Hollywood has to offer this summer. but like many alternatives, this movie isn't the real thing quite yet. 8 out of 10 in my FilmOmeter.
fascinating movie
sureshbala9 May 2003
the unfolding of plot is very nice. inspite of three like characters, confusion in identity is avoided tactfully. the final scene leaves the viewer to think, think and think. the movie leaves its vibrations for quite some time
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