Bikur Ha-Tizmoret aka the Alexandria Ceremonial Police Orchestra gets lost
{FILM DIARY}
Bikur Ha-Tizmoret (Israel/France/USA, 2007)
Seen: Wednesday, 11th December 2008 (cinema)
Runtime: 87′
Polish Distributor: Kino Świat (21st November 2008)
Director: Eran Kolirin
Cast: Sasson Gabai, Ronit Elkabetz, Saleh Bakri, Khalifa Natour
Production House: July August Productions, Sophie Dulac Productions, Bleiberg Entertainment
Plot: An Egyptian police orchestra gets lost in Israel.
Trailer
Impressions In Short
I was a little worried this would be one of those low-budget, cute, warm and fuzzy kind of films which get people’s attention solely because of their cuteness and because they happen to be from a country that is less represented in cinemas.
This film was cute, warm and fuzzy and Israeli films do not often figure in Polish cinemas ;) However, it had what many of these kinds of films do not - if you take away the cute stuff it still has something to stand on.
Some Details
The biggest surprise of the film for me was that it’s not about Arab-Israeli relations - that’s just the backdrop. The true point of the film is loneliness. I guess in the end it is the comedy and cuteness that takes over the film, but still - the motive of loneliness gives it a pretty strong punch and it’s well done.
As for the comedy - it’s great. The actors have amazing comic timing, the shots are composed for maximum effect (you have to love those shots in the trailer which show them at the airport, right? ;) ) and the English dialogue is hilarious - the vocabulary, foreign accents, grammar etc. they used was just comically perfect.
This was Israel’s original choice for the Academy Awards 2007, but they had to back out of it because too much English was used in the film. I wonder how it would have fared - especially considering Israel’s second choice (Beaufort) did get nominated.
Recommended?
I think yes :) Except maybe if you don’t like films with a slow tempo.
Actually, the weird thing is that although I think this is a very good film and I liked it and in fact I think this review is rather gushy, somehow I’m still not *that* excited about it ;)
