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| Restless |
A major departure for veteran Israeli filmmaker and Festival favourite Amos Kollek (
Fast Food, Fast Woman and
Queenie in Love),
Restless is an edgy psychological drama that explores the underbelly of contemporary Israeli identity.
Moshe Amar (Moshe Ivgy), who fled Israel a lifetime ago to pursue an artistic career in New York, has lost his moorings and hit rock bottom. A renegade street poet and dyspeptic bard in a run-down bar catering for New York's large Israeli community, he sets out to remake his life when his abandoned son, Tzach, now grown-up and a soldier in the Israeli army, turns up.
Along the way, Moshe discovers generosity among his countrymen, rapacity among his acquaintances and love with an unlikely soul mate. They all help bring him back from the brink of despair and enable him to reconcile with his son.
First screened at this year's Berlin Film Festival as part of the Official Competition, this is a bracingly direct meditation on coming to terms with oneself and one's responsibilities.
