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| My Father, My Lord |
There may be no more perfectly realised a film than this début from gifted Israeli writer-director David Volach. Winner of the top award at last year's Tribeca Film Festival in New York, the story is simplicity itself.
A respected Orthodox rabbi (played by the incomparable Assi Dayan) dotes on his young son, but his religious strictures leave an emotional gap between the mischievous child and his stern father that his devoted wife is unable to bridge.
Filmed in Jerusalem and at the Dead Sea, the film follows the family through a series of seemingly uneventful occurrences that often border on crises that never quite erupt because of the almost limitless respect and affection that they have for one another.
Volach, who as one of 19 children raised in an Orthodox family in Jerusalem knows this world very well, never puts a foot wrong. His subdued restraint keeps the emotions smouldering, but never allows them to break out.
Assi Dayan (a son of Israeli war hero Moshe Dayan) offers probably the finest performance of his career as the rabbi torn between faith and humanity, while Sharon Hacohen-Bar is remarkable as his devoted wife and mother to his adorable son (Ilan Griff).
