RESTORATION
Further proof that Israel has one of the world's leading national cinemas, RESTORATION is a meditative and compelling melodrama about family, loyalty, and responsibility. Nominated for an astounding 11 Israeli Academy Awards, RESTORATION is of a high pedigree. The film is the pinnacle of "another excellent year for Israeli films," according to Marek Rozenbaum, President of the Israel Academy for Film and Television. If you liked the nostalgia of THE MATCHMAKER, return to Israel for this contemporary perspective!
"Chief among the virtues of this Israeli drama is a genuine curiosity about real adult lives... [and] nuanced performance[s]... Director Joseph Madmony gives each [character's] development the same careful attention he accords the scenes of work. This is the kind of novelistic filmmaking whose simple wisdom stays with you."
-Ben Sachs, CHICAGO READER
"An Israeli film more about the internal state of its characters than the state of the country, RESTORATION the kind of small-scale, well-crafted story that used to be a staple of European cinema and is rarely seen nowadays."
-James Greenberg, THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
70 year old Yaakov Fidelman (Sasson Gabai, The Band's Visit) hangs on with all his might to the antique restoration workshop which has been his life's work. After his long-time business partner passes away, Fidelman rejects his son Noah's idea to close the business and build an apartment complex on the site. He believes that with the help of his new apprentice Anton, he'll find a way to save his workshop, his world and his solitary way of life. When Anton falls in love with Hava, Noah's pregnant wife, the two young men compete not only over a father, but also over a woman and the baby she carries. Will the old man understand that his only hope for redemption is to learn to let go, admit and accept his weaknesses and the dictate of time?
Directed by Joseph Madmony. Unrated.
Israel, 2011, 35mm Film, 105minutes, Color, Hebrew with English Subtitles.