User Reviews

A single, typical "liberal" computer programmer in Tel-Aviv, Goldberg (Yitzhak Laor) invests a lot of time meeting women to date online and walking his dog as an extension of his romantic pursuits. Unfortunately for him, he encounters Eisenberg (Yahav Gal), who attempts to make (read: tries to force) Goldberg to be his friend. Eisenberg demands money and blow jobs from Goldberg and gets under his skin to the point where the latter calls on the police, but to no avail, as Eisenberg increasingly pervades his life and nightmares. When Goldberg has one successful date with a beautiful woman (Roni Dotan)—who also has a dog—Eisenberg ups his game by harassing her, too. Gal executes the part of a malicious villain par excellence, who manipulates the riled-up Goldberg more and more by using and abusing the pet dogs in the movie. This psychological drama toes the line between being viscerally unsettling and situationally comedic. Director Oren Carmi has crafted a film whose tension becomes eclipsed by cringe-worthy surprises as the movie bulldozes onward—the ending I suspected sizzled away to an ironic underline of Eisenberg's "tragic character" (as put by Carmi after the screening). This film is f***d up in the best of ways.

SLUGMagazineFilms's review is spot on. I would like to mention the stylized look of the film. It's a little off-putting at first - a glow effect on everything. And the bulk of the movie is shot at night with minimal lighting, sets and people (and a minimal budget). The cinematography is really superb with plenty of interesting camera shots and lighting effects. The glow effect ends by the 4th act and a more conventional approach is taken. The final scenes reminded me of the Cohen Bros in the best way. This is a story that anyone can relate to which makes it totally unnerving. Also, very few Director/Writers nail both jobs. Oren Carmi did just that.