Uri Ran Klauzner Movies
Forced Israeli evictions from the Gaza Strip yield tremendous personal strife for a pair of cross-cultural lovers in Disengagement, director Amos Gitai's meditation on the complex relationship between interpersonal and national politics in the Middle East. Juliette Binoche stars as Ana, a woman of mixed Dutch and Palestinian origin residing in Avignon, where her biological father has just died. Newly arrived in town is her adoptive brother, the Franco-Israeli Uli (Liron Levo), with whom Ana shares a relationship so passionate that it consistently transgresses sibling boundaries. While Uli comes to terms with his foster father's passing and prepares for an upcoming work assignment that involves aggressively shuttling Israeli settlers out of Gaza, Ana visits her father's attorney (French screen legend Jeanne Moreau), takes the steps to end her unfulfilling marriage, and hopes to make contact with her long-abandoned daughter, currently residing in the Israeli settlement of Gaza. To achieve this goal, Ana insists on accompanying Uli during his trip -- but doesn't count on numerous complications that arise, including a forced separation from Uli and lengthy travels with the settlers themselves, who have grown doggedly certain that God would never allow their geographic displacement to occur. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi
- Starring:
- Juliette Binoche, Liron Levo, (more)
A Jewish-American woman still reeling from her breakup with her Spanish-Israeli fiancée hits the road with a middle-aged Israeli woman, who is looking to collect the 30,000-dollar debt owed to her by her husband's former business partner, and a Palestinian woman, who claims to know the elusive moneyman's whereabouts, in this road-trip drama from Kippur director Amos Gitai. In her efforts to escape the painful memory of her breakup with former fiancée Julio (Aki Avni), Rebecca (Natalie Portman) agrees to accompany Hanna (Hanna Laslo) on her arduous journey through Israel to the Free Zone -- a tax- and customs-free region where those from countries at war with one another amiably buy and sell cars -- in hopes of collecting a large debt owed to her by her ailing husband's business partner known only as "The American." When Hanna and Rebecca finally arrive in the Free Zone only to discover that Hanna's contact and money have mysteriously gone missing, a Palestinian woman named Leila (Hiam Abbass) agrees to lead the skeptical Hanna to both "The American" and Hanna's rightly due cash. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Natalie Portman, Hanna Laslo, (more)
Directed by Amos Gitai, Alila is based on Yehoshua Kenaz's novel Returning Lost Love and chronicles the trials and tribulations of every day life in Tel Aviv. Most of the film revolves around an apartment block on the working-class borders of Tel Aviv, where the trysts of residents Hezi (Amos Lavie) and Gabi (Yael Abecassis) attract their neighbors' attention, as does the unauthorized construction of an additional wing to the building. A neighboring family patriarch, meanwhile, is dealing with legal troubles (he hired illegal Chinese construction workers), the AWOL status of his son, and his wife's affair with a younger man. A Holocaust survivor (Yosef Carmon) and his Filipino housekeeper (Lyn Shiao Zamir) further illustrate the conflict between Jews, Jews of different extractions, and Arabs in the community. ~ Tracie Cooper, Rovi
- Starring:
- Yaël Abecassis, Uri Ran Klauzner, (more)
Director Benny Torati's bittersweet ensemble film Desperado Square spins a tale of respect, long-lost loves and village history amongst a settlement of Greek Jews near Tel Aviv. On the one-year anniversary of the respected elder statesman Morris Mandabon's death -- and on the eve of a schedule memorial in his honor -- his eldest son, Nisim (Nir Levi), dreams that his late father is beckoning him to reopen the family movie theater that had closed several years previously. Drawing his brother, George (Sharon Reginyano), into the scheme, the two set out to fulfill their father's wish. Their mother, Signora (Yona Elian), provides fierce opposition, which intensifies when she learns that her sons intend to screen the sexually charged Bollywood film Sangam. She reacts as such due the film's portrayal of a love triangle that has more than a passing resemblance to her own life -- she was madly in love with Morris' brother, Avram (Mohammed Bakri), but was affianced to Morris through an arrangement of families. After her engagement to Morris, Avram disappeared in order to stay out of the way. And, to further complicate matters, Avram arrives in the settlement in order to participate in his brother's memorial. As a result, the family is forced to come to terms with its past, as well as revisioning its future. Desperado Square premiered in Israel in 2000 and was included in the programs of several Jewish film festivals in both the United States and abroad in 2001 and 2002. ~ Ryan Shriver, Rovi
Filmmaker Amos Gitai was a first-hand witness to the 1973 Yom Kippur War, in which troops from Egypt and Syria chose one of the holiest days of the Jewish calendar to launch a surprise attack on Israel. This film examines the short but bloody conflict through the eyes of a student, Weinraub (Liron Levo). Weinraub and his friend Russo (Tomer Russo) have been instructed to join a special military unit on the Golan Heights shortly after the fighting begins, but in the confusion they are instead thrown in with an emergency medical team led by Dr. Klauzner (Uri Ran Klauzner). Weinraub and Ruso help Klauzner and his men rescue the wounded, and they find themselves in as much danger as the soldiers on the front line, as the fighting rages on around them and their helicopter is hit by enemy fire. Meanwhile, on the ground another doctor (Pini Mittleman) tries to preserve an oasis of calm and medical discipline in the midst of war. Kippur was shown in competition at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Uri Ran Klauzner
A dark drama of women living in a society where they are second-class citizens, Kadosh/Sacred begins with Meir, an Orthodox Jew living in the Mea Shearim district of Jerusalem, greeting the day with his morning prayers, which includes the phrase, "Thank you, oh Lord, for not having made me a woman." Meir begins to understand just how poorly regarded women can be in the Orthodox faith when his rabbi suggests he should leave his wife. Meir and Rivka (Yael Abecassis) have been married for ten years and have a solid relationship based on affection and mutual respect. However, they have been unable to have children, and as Meir is reminded, the Talmud says a woman without children may as well be dead. Consequently, the rabbi advises Meir to divorce Rivka and take up with a younger woman who can give him a family. Meanwhile, Rivka's younger sister, Malka (Meital Barda), is soon to wed Yossef (Uri Ran Klauzner) in a match arranged by their parents, even though Malka loves another man, Yaakov (Sami Hori), who has dared to question the teachings of the Orthodox faith. Yossef soon proves to be blind to Malka's emotional and physical needs, and she begins to wonder how long she can continue to live within this circle, even though it is the only world she knows. Destined to be controversial in its native Israel, Kadosh/Sacred was shown in competition at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Yaël Abecassis, Yoram Hattab, (more)
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