Sasson Gabai Movies
A Middle Eastern actor whose occasional excursions into Hollywood material relegated him to run-of-the-mill ethnic stereotypes in action pictures (such as the 1988
Rambo III and the 1997
Human Cargo),
Sasson Gabai fared far better with offbeat, sensitively handled projects in his native Israel. These included
Haim Bouzaglo's war drama
Time for Cherries (1991),
Shemi Zarhin's gentle, slice-of-life drama
Aviva My Love (2006), and -- most memorably --
Eran Kolirin's crossover arthouse comedy
The Band's Visit (2007). The latter brought
Gabai his first lead; in it, he played the conductor of an Egyptian police band who gets stuck in an Israeli town and winds up in the middle of a most unanticipated cross-cultural romance with a Hebrew woman. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
