Amos Kollek Movies
With a solid background in studies of the human mind, Amos Kollek has a knack for insightfully capturing the very essence of his often troubled characters. Despite the fact that his early films were bleak in depicting their characters' fragility, the director has since excelled at transforming the darkness of his protagonists into a warm quirkiness by moving from serious drama to romantic comedy. A native of Israel who studied psychology and philosophy at Jerusalem's Hebrew University, Kollek became interested in film after first working as a writer; his early mastering of the visual medium soon led to exploring serious emotional issues onscreen. In 1985, Kollek kicked off his career with the lighthearted comedy Goodbye, New York (1985), and after once again going for laughs with Forever, Lulu (1987), the director moved into darker territory with High Stakes (1989) and Double Edge (1992). If audiences had mistaken Kollek's luridly titled Whore 2 (1994) as some cheap soft-core straight-to-video sequel, what they actually got was a realistic and downbeat portrayal of dangerous life on the streets. His 1995 documentary, Teddy Kollek, followed his eponymous father -- who also happened to be the mayor of Jerusalem. In 1997, Kollek crafted the downbeat urban drama Sue, a saddening tale of urban isolation. The film found the director forming a close bond with star Anna Levine, and the actress would return to play the lead in Kollek's subsequent film, the equally depressing Fiona (1998). Of course, drug-addicted prostitutes alone do not a career make, so his next film, Fast Food Fast Women (2000), was a refreshing change of pace for Kollek and Levine -- and the film proved a surprising success at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival. The following year found Kollek sticking in the Big Apple for the romantic comedy Queenie in Love. If that film didn't quite garner the attention that Fast Food Fast Women had, his 2002 comedy drama, Bridget (again starring Levine), benefited from positive word of mouth and a Golden Bear nomination at the Berlin International Film Festival. In 2003, Kollek directed Amélie star Audrey Tautou in the upbeat romantic comedy Nowhere to Go But Up. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide- 2007
Years after moving to American in order to pursue his fame and flee from the responsibilities of parenthood, an ambitious novelist discovers that no matter how far he runs, his past will always catch up. Moshe was a moderately successful Israeli novelist who believed he never received the fame that he was due. Fed up with work and feeling trapped after the birth of his son, Moshe abandoned his wife and child in order to seek his fortune in America. Tzach joined with an elite unit of the Israeli army and rose through the ranks by fearlessly facing any challenge that came his way - no matter how deadly. It always seemed as if he were challenging fate, or perhaps trying to live larger than life in order to fill some long empty void. One day, after his mother dies, Tzach discovers the address of his long lost father buried among his mother's paperwork. As the pent up anger of never knowing his father blasts like a cork off a champagne bottle, the enraged young man decides to make contact. The moment Moshe realizes that his son has finally tracked him down, the runaway father's delusion of denial comes crashing down all around him. Now, as father and son become locked on a confrontational collision course, Moshe is about to discover just how futile it is for a man to run from his true fate. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Moshe Ivgy, Ran Danker, (more)
- 2003
Part of producer Regina Ziegler's Erotic Tales series, Music is written and directed by Israeli-born American independent filmmaker Amos Kollek. Dallas Roberts stars as Matt, an young man who prefers his sexual fantasies to be set to classical music. While wandering through Manhattan one night, he ends up in a strange hotel room with a mysterious woman. This half-hour short film was originally shot on digital video. Kollek has also directed the Erotic Tales short film Angela. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dallas Roberts, Lara Harris, (more)
- 2001
An elderly man falls in love with a woman young enough to be his daughter -- and that's not the least of their differences -- in this offbeat romantic comedy. Horace (Victor Argo) is a retired police officer who now works for a travel agency. Outwardly gruff, Horace is at heart a gentle soul, and as he grows older he finds himself depressed by his single status. Horace's feelings of loneliness only intensify when he learns that a combination of lung cancer and severe diabetes is likely to claim his life within the next six months. Despite his sorry state, love finds Horace, but in a form he never would have anticipated -- Queenie (Valerie Geffner), known to her parents as Bernice Applegate, the daughter of a wealthy family who toys with a career as a social worker and a dominatrix while trying (without much success) to find work as an actress. After Queenie discovers her boyfriend has been having an affair with his secretary, Queenie gives him his walking papers and meets Horace by chance. Queenie and Horace quickly hit it off, but while Horace is grateful for Queenie's interest, it's obvious that they don't have much in common, and he has a hard time adjusting to her oddball sense of humor and free-wheeling sexual appetites. Queenie in Love also stars Louise Lasser, Austin Pendleton, and Mark Margolis. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Victor Argo, Louise Lasser, (more)
- 2000
Part of Regina Ziegler's Erotic Tales series, the short film Angela is directed by Israeli-born American independent filmmaker Amos Kollek. Victor Argo plays Bob, a professor in Manhattan about to have his 70th birthday. He's longing for one last sexual encounter before calling it quits. Juilliard School graduate Valerie Geffner stars as the young woman named Angela. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
Amos Kollek directs this quiet, understated comedy about lonely hearts and empty pockets in New York. Pushing 40, Bella (Anna Thomson) works as a waitress at small downtown diner in Manhattan. Her elderly regulars include Paul (Robert Modica), a lovelorn retiree who scours the personal ads and his ill-tempered buddies Seymour (Victor Argo) and Graham (Mark Margolis), who are more than a little disparaging toward Paul's attempts at finding love. Involved in a 12-year relationship with married Broadway theater director George (Austin Pendleton), Bella craves marriage and children. On a blind date set up by her mother, Bella meets Bruno, a divorced cabbie and fledgling novelist with two young children. Meanwhile, Paul meets ready-and-willing widow Emily (Louise Lasser), while Seymour shacks up with Wanda (Valerie Geffner), a stripper with a master's degree. This film was shown in competition at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anna Thomson, Jamie Harris, (more)
- 1998
- NR
Troubled, unemployed New York office worker Sue (Anna Thomson) lives in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood. However, job interviews lead nowhere, and she's behind in the rent, forced to accept a prostitute as a roommate. Meanwhile, she veers close to a mental precipice as she wanders the city, seeking human contact. She finds a friend in free-lance journalist Ben (Matthew Powers), but after he leaves the country on an assignment, she becomes increasingly disturbed and unable to cope, facing both eviction and mental collapse. Shown at 1997-98 film festivals (Toronto, Berlin). ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anna Thomson, Matthew Powers, (more)
The director of Sue continues his exploration of the theme of lonely women lost in the big city with Fiona, which goes one step further and exposes the wasted lives of whores and junkies in New York. Fiona (Anna Thomson) was abandoned by her mother when she was six months old. She grew up in foster homes where she was abused and finally became a prostitute. She lives her life according to her own rules, without any qualms. After a fiasco with three cops in a restaurant, she hides out in a derelict building where drug addicts squat. By now she is thirty-one years old. She meets another woman, Anita (Felicia Maguire), who carries the scars of her life on the streets. Anita is old enough to be Fiona's mother, and maybe she is. They go to bed together despite one moment of vague reminiscence on the part of Anita, who seems to recognize the necklace Fiona is wearing. Fiona decides to leave New York and make a fresh start elsewhere, but she is caught stealing a bag of cookies and someone begins shooting at her. There is no escape in the films of Kollek for women who are doomed to fall further and further to the abyss. Fiona was screened as part of the Panorama section of the 49th International Berlin Film Festival, 1999. ~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anna Thomson, Felicia Maguire, (more)
An ambitious female reporter finds herself unable to remain an objective, third party observer while covering the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in this made for television war drama starring Faye Dunaway. Upon arriving Israel on her first foreign assignment, American photojournalist Faye Milano is greeted by David (Amos Kollek), an Israeli reserve officer and writer is also the nephew of Jerusalem Mayor Kollek. Later, while conducting a series of interviews with actual political representatives on both sides of the issue, Faye discovers the identity of David's uncle and skillfully manipulates him into getting her an interview with the mayor. The resulting story, which runs with a photograph of an Israeli police officer clubbing a young Palestinian girl, raises the ire of authorities - who deplore the reporter's penchant sensationalizing the details and seldom bothering to confirm the facts. When Faye learns that a young Palestinian boy was recently shot after hurling a brick at an Israeli soldier, she travels to Jerusalem in order to meet with Mustafa (Mohammad Bakri), the dead boy's brother. As tensions begin to thicken and Mustafa is arrested, Faye snaps a candid shot of the boy being taken into custody. Faye's press credentials are subsequently revoked, however, when the arresting officer is discovered with his throat slashed and the authorities place the blame for the killing on her photograph, which clearly shows the arresting officer's face. After submitting a story about an injured Palestinian boy who had actually suffered from a household accident and not in the conflict as she read leaders to believe, the inexperienced reporter finds that she has unexpectedly gotten in far over her head. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Faye Dunaway, Amos Kollek, (more)
- 1989
- R
Sally Kirkland stars as a good-hearted hooker named Bambi Rose in this odd crime-drama from director Amos Kollek. Bambi is getting a bit long in the tooth, and is at the mercy of a sadistic pimp named Slim (Richard Lynch), who has his fingers in nearly every sort of crime imaginable. When a greedy Wall Street stockbroker (Robert LuPone) shows up on her doorstep after being mugged, Bambi enlists his aid in ripping off Slim and saving her daughter from a life of vice. More interesting than the film is the cast, which -- aside from including some fine performances from Kirkland and Lynch -- features such future luminaries as Kathy Bates and Sarah Michelle Gellar (credited as Sarah Gellar). ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sally Kirkland, Robert LuPone, (more)
In this comedy, a young German woman named Elaine Hines (Hanna Schygulla) moves to New York City with dreams of becoming a writer. Elaine becomes entangled in a mystery and falls in with a group of gangsters who lead her through a series of crazy adventures. Released on video under the title Crazy Streets, this movie featured an appearance by Deborah Harry and was Alec Baldwin's first screen appearance. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hanna Schygulla, Deborah Harry, (more)
- 1985
- R
Never mind the title: Goodbye, New York mostly takes place in Israel. Julie Hagerty plays Nancy Callighan, a spoiled Irish-Jewish lass who decides to see the world after her husband has betrayed her. En route to Paris by plane, Nancy takes a few too many sedatives, and when she awakens, she's in Tel Aviv, minus money and luggage. Latching onto a cabdriver (Amos Kollek), Nancy settles in a Kibbutz, where she is subjected to traditional limitations on her freedom of choice and movement. Before long, however, she has adjusted to her new lifestyle. With the arrival of her husband, however, Nancy is faced with a momentous decision: should she give up all that she now holds near and dear, or should she return to New York. A darkly funny plot twist makes our heroine's mind up in record time. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Julie Hagerty, Amos Kollek, (more)
- 1980
This Israeli drama is based on a semi-autobiographical novel by Amos Kollek. Kollek's father is the mayor of Jerusalem and so Kollek leads a privileged life. He eventually joins the reserves and spends a few days a week fighting the Arabs. He then begins dating an American woman who lives in the Arab quarter. This creates turmoil for him. One day, he sees a notorious terrorist in the quarter. The chase is on and mayhem ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1979
Based on an autobiographical novel by Amos Kolek, the son of one of Jerusalem's more famous mayors (Teddy Kolek), this movie tells the story of an Israeli novelist with no visible means of support, who occupies the time he doesn't spend with his girlfriend, an American archaeologist, or with his best friend, a soldier, by writing a novel which he imagines no one will ever read. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Shelby Leverington
