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Karaoke film image, director Moshe Rosenthal

Karaoke

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Movie theatres usually discourage talking but our latest series is designed to encourage it — before and after (not during) the show. Aimed at film lovers 55+, Talking Pictures offers audience-friendly festival films, refreshments, and an open invitation to chat about our shared experience of the movie. Tickets are just $10. Bring a buddy and get two tickets for $16!

Talking Pictures happens the last Tuesday of the month, 11:00 am, at the most comfortable theatre in the city, the VIFF Centre.

Meir (Sasson Gabay) is slumping towards retirement and no longer has any fight in him. When the new guy in the penthouse suite double parks in front of Meir’s car, well, it just sums up the kind of day/week/life he’s having. But Itsik (Lior Ashkenazi) apologizes profusely and insists Meir and his wife Tova (Rita Shukrun) come up for a glass of wine. Turns out Itsik isn’t just rich and successful, he’s also charming and gregarious. Under the bright wattage of his attentive smile, Meir and Tova start to feel better about themselves and imagine a new chapter is possible.

Moshe Rosenthal’s comedy of vanities (the Audience Award winner at the Jerusalem Film Festival) has a deft, light touch, but hits harder than you might expect. That’s down to a sharp, keen script, and to the excellence of the performances—with special mention reserved for Gabay, who shows us a decent, downtrodden man willing to do almost anything (karaoke!) to recover his self-respect. That this is a grave error of judgment should go without saying.

Director

Moshe Rosenthal

Cast

Sasson Gabay, Lior Ashkenazi, Rita Shukrun, Arie Tcherner, Kobi Farag, Michal Levi

Credits
Country of Origin

Israel

Year

2022

Language

In Hebrew with English subtitles

Awards

Four Ophir (Israeli Academy) Awards including Best Actor, Best Actress; Audience Award, Jerusalem Film Festival

19+
103 min

Book Tickets

This event has passed.

Credits

Executive Producer

Yaron Bloch, Ben Giladi, Michal Vermus, Roni El-Roy, Dubi Rubinstein, Raz Yosef, Reuven Hecker

Producer

Efrat Cohen, Iris Ben-Moshe

Screenwriter

Moshe Rosenthal

Cinematography

Daniel Miller

Editor

Dafi Farbman

Production Design

Ido Dolev

Original Music

Gal Lev, Lior Perla

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