Another good reason to invest in the Israeli Film Festival is the disarmingly charming THE DUNE.
The title suggests desert and the film opens in an arid little Israeli boondock where Hanoch seems to while away his time playing chess with a wizened denizen. When Hanoch is told by his girlfriend that she is pregnant he informs her he is not ready to be a father.
In France, a detective assigned to missing persons, Reuven, is nearing retirement. What should be his last case looks like a good way to end a solid career, but things go awry, and this last case leaves a legacy of regret to the superannuated sleuth.
In an effort to give Reuven a second chance of leaving his job on a high note, his superior requests that he investigates one final case.
A man has been washed up on a beach, still alive, and with press clippings of Reuven in his pocket. The cop’s curiosity is piqued and so begins an investigation that has a personal and surprising result, bringing the earlier Israeli scenes into focus.
Writer/director Yossi Aviram brilliantly takes the clichéd cop’s last case scenario and spins a beautifully nuanced film.
As Reuven, Niels Arestrup carries the world weary ready to retire character like a crumpled overcoat without being a caricature curmudgeon. The playing of the relationship with his partner, Paolo, played by Guy Marchand, is superb, with both actors creating a relationship that is cosy and enduring, but etched like all real relationships with a certain exasperation.
A cameo by Mathieu Amalric as a reclusive writer is an added bonus.
Beautifully shot by Antoine Heberle, LA DUNE is a minor masterpiece of minimalist, elliptical movie making.
There has been a call for audiences to boycott the Israeli Film Festival in the light of recent events in Gaza. Such a ban would be counter intuitive to the work of these film-makers, inspired by the belief that their films can bridge political and cultural divides even if their leaders appear unable to do the same.
Israeli Film Festival runs from August 21 till September 4 at Palace Norton Street, Leichardt and Verona Cinema, Paddington.