Change Your Image
ojshapir
Reviews
Ga'agua (2017)
A complex and powerful film
In Longing, Eli (the father) creates Adam, (the son) he never knew and who died in an automobile accident. Although there is only one dream segment, that mirrors the sexually overt graffiti love poem Adam wrote on the wall of a school building, much of the film is dream-like. In life Adam fantasized a love relationship with his teacher, Yael (not dissimilar to the love fantasy Nadav, in Nina's Tragedies, has for Nina, and in both cases presented through the boys' private diaries). In the dream Eli enters a space where he discovers Adam playing the piano. They embrace as if they had always known each other. Adam takes Eli outside to show a giant size Yael straddling and having intercourse with the phallic steeple sitting between two school buildings. A visual reconstruction of the graffiti poem.
Gabizon's mirror structure reveals the film's narrative and Eli's psychology. Eli, learning from Adam's girlfriend, Lilia, that she is pregnant with Adam's child parallels Eli not knowing that his girlfriend, Ronit, was pregnant with his son, Adam. When Eli meets a man at the cemetery (Amnon) whose daughter, Abagail committed suicide, they plot a marriage between their two dead children. Abagail was a talented violinist. Adam was a talented pianist. When Eli and Ronit visit Abagail's parents to discuss the possibility for this strange marriage the parents are playing a recording of Abagail performing a Mozart sonata for violin and piano. Abagail and Adam are thus already a pair. These are just two examples how the parallelisms formed by mirroring propel the film's narrative and themes.
As interesting as I find the film's narrative structure and story through-line I also recognize Gabizon's commentaries on themes such as schools, education, disability, religion, and most of all, relationships of family, strangers, and lovers. Many of these themes, that exist in Gabizon's other films, become buried in the forward movement of the story but when they are portrayed, they take on their own independent power.
Sand (2010)
Superior acting and story make this a must see gritty independent film
Not many films deal with older characters and few if any in the gritty, creative way Nilsson does in this film. He obtains unbelievable subtle yet powerful performances from his main actors whose character development is rich and many faceted. The film is simply compelling on all levels, performance, story, visualization.....
In SAND, Nilsson continues to develop a unique style of directing and developing film narratives. Nilsson's films are rare within the American Independent scene. He has developed a singular voice that is far outside the mainstream but is also accessible to any viewer open to new cinematic forms and styles.
I highly recommend Sand and suggest but I also suggest seeing Northern Lights, his first feature, Presque Isle, and his Tenderloin films shot in the San Francisco area using non professional actors.