Moni Moshonov Movies

This French-German-Israeli co-production helmed by director Keren Yedaya observes the heartbreaking tragedy that erupts from an affair between a young Jewish woman and an Arab mechanic. Mali Wolf (Dana Ivgy) is the daughter of garage proprietor Reuven (Moni Moshonov) and his wife Osnat (Ronit Elkabetz); Reuven employs two Arabs, father and son Hassan (Hussein Yassin Mahajneh) and Tawfik (Mahmoud Shalaby) at his shop. He shows them basic respect, though an undercurrent of racial hostility bubbles beneath the surface among all concerned. Meanwhile, Mali and Tawfik nurture a discreet relationship -- so discreet that no one else realizes what is happening -- and in seemingly no time, Mali realizes that she is pregnant with Tawfik's daughter, but deliberately avoids telling him. Things come to a head at the shop when Tawfik gets into a brawl with Mali's hotheaded brother Meir (Roy Assaf), ends up killing the young man, and gets shuttled off to prison. Mali breaks up with Tawfik, but decides to have the baby and lies to her parents, informing them that the father is a married man and will remain out of the picture. All bodes well with the child and the family for nine years, until Tawfik gets out of prison, still unaware of the presence of his daughter Shiran (Lili Ivgy). For a stylistic model, Yedaya emulates the approach of slick Egyptian melodramas. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

Author Yoram Kaniuk's celebrated 1971 novel concerning a charismatic yet questionably sane Holocaust survivor comes to the screen in this dark drama starring Jeff Goldblum, Willem Dafoe, and Derek Jacobi. In the years before World War II, Adam Stein (Goldblum) was a Berlin entertainer who thrilled audiences with extravagant circus acts and spectacular magic tricks. Later, when Hitler took power and Europe was plunged into chaos, Stein and his family were locked away in a concentration camp presided over by the sadistic Commandant Klein (Dafoe). The only reason Stein survived those dreadful years was because he managed to become the commandant's personal "dog," entertaining his captors even as his wife and daughter are marched off to die. Flash-forward to 1961, when Stein is a patient at an Israeli mental hospital for Holocaust survivors. Seemingly able to read minds, Stein confounds head doctor Nathan Gross (Jacobi) with the question "Who brought a dog in here?" Despite Gross' vehement denial that any such animal is on the premises, Stein soon tracks the scent to a young boy who has spent his entire youth locked in a basement and chained to a wall. Over time, Stein and the boy see in each other something undeniably familiar, and the two kindred spirits set out on a remarkable journey together. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A 20-year-old American Israeli decides to move back to Israel and reconnect with his roots, only to be institutionalized in a mental-health facility constructed on the grounds of a Palestinian village that was massacred by a Jewish militia back in 1948. David Adler (Itay Tiran) has moved back to Israel, but the joy of his homecoming is short-lived when he is committed to a mental institution and injected with a chemo-technological drug at the behest of his father -- a Holocaust survivor and famous musician. Later, blind mental patient Muselmann, who serves as a conduit between the worlds of the living and the dead, implores the troubled David to listen to the ghosts that have long been rumored to dwell in the hospital corridors. It seems that the spirit of a ten-year-old girl holds the secret to a riddle that could bring an end to the continual cycle of violence that sweeps their land, but only when she finds eternal rest will that secret finally be revealed. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Israeli filmmaker Amos Gitai directed this historical drama based on a true story of the conflict between Jewish refugees and Palestinians on the eve of the formation of the nation of Israel. On May 7, 1948, a freight ship, the Kedma, arrived on the coast of Palestine, carrying a load of Jewish refugees from Europe who had survived concentration camps in several nations. A few days later, the state of Israel would be created, but at the time, the passengers of the Kedma found themselves in the midst of a war, as they were greeted by British gunfire on one side, while on the other the Jewish underground army known as the Palmach stood by to defend them. The Palmach took many of the Kedma's refugees into hiding, while the rest were given weapons and asked to fight alongside the Palmach against the British and Palestinians. Over the next several days, the Palestinians and their British allies find themselves fighting with the Palmach soldiers and the Jewish refugees while interacting with one another as both sides realize how close and how far away they truly are. The cast includes Roman Hazanowski, Menachem Lang, Juliano Mer, Yussef Abu Warda, and Andrei Kashkar. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The sophomore feature of Israeli director Joseph Pitchhadze, Besame Mucho is a meditation on the nature of love. Set mainly at night in Tel Aviv, the film revolves around a group of characters who are all loosely connected to the theft of a Christian icon from an international crime organization. Besame Mucho was screened at the 2000 Jerusalem Film Festival. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide

In this romantic drama set during World War II, David (Tom Hanks) is an American pilot serving with the Royal Air Force. While recovering from an injury in Jerusalem, David meets Sarah (Christina Marsillach), whose best friend is engaged to David's squadron leader. David and Sarah become fast friends and soon find they've fallen in love. However, Sarah's family are Sephardic Jews who are not enthusiastic about her seeing an American, particularly one whose father is a Protestant minister. While David and Sarah want to see their romance through, her family is just as determined to stop it, to the point of barricading her inside her room. Every Time We Say Goodbye marked the first English-speaking film role for Spanish star Christina Marsillach. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide