The Giraffe (1998)
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Dani Levy directed and co-stars in this German-Austrian political thriller. Lena Katz (Maria Schrader), living in New York, is the granddaughter of Jewish chocolate-factory owner Eliah Goldberg (Lukas Ammann), whose factory in Germany has been recently set on fire by some anti-Semitic thugs. In NYC, German émigrée Mrs. Fish (Lynn Cohen) reads about the fire and recognizes Goldberg as her father, who she thought was long dead, a victim of the Holocaust. Mrs. Fish phones her son David (Dani Levy), who hires Jewish activist attorney Charles Kaminski (David Strathairn) to contact Goldberg. At the same time, Lena's mom (Nicole Heesters) is visiting New York, and when Lena goes to see her at her hotel, she finds Mrs. Fish near death in the hallway, the victim of an attempted murder. She's taken to the hospital -- where David and Lena meet and begin to learn about their mysterious shared backgrounds and past history. Made with English and German dialogue, this film was shown at the 1998 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
Complete Cast:
- Maria Schrader - Lena Katz
- David Strathairn - Charles Kaminski
- Jeffrey Wright - Win
- Paul Butler - Lt. Lynch
- Lynn Cohen - David's mother
- Stephanie Roth
- Daniel Mastroianni
- Marcia Jean Kurtz
- Sylvia Kauders
- Dani Levy - David Fish
- Nicole Heesters - Lena's mother
- Lukas Ammann - Eliah Goldberg
- Mario Giacalone - Det. Pucci
- Erin Rakow
- R.J. Cutler
- Mark Zimmerman
- Francine Beers
- Director(s):
- Dani Levy
- Writer(s):
- Dani Levy, Maria Schrader
- Producer(s):
- Stefan Arndt
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