Jaffa (Kalat haYam) - عروس البحر - כלת הים - The Arab review of Israeli cinema!

Selection officielle hors competition, Festival de Cannes 2009: I had high expectations. But was disappointed enough that I nearly left halfway through - which would've been a shame because it picks up later, unfortunately after irrevocable damage to the film has been done.

Too many closeups; silly scenes of the type of girl-hugging-pillow-and-smiling-blissfully; and oriental music in all the wrong places. I was thinking I was watching an Egyptian film from the 50s.
I wasn't mistaken: in the end credits, there's a "Conseiller en cinema egyptien", believe you me!

This is the film synopsis I find everywhere:

"In the heart of Jaffa, a city nicknamed "the Bride of the Sea" by the Israelis, Reuven's garage is a family business. His daughter Mali and his son Meir, as well as Tawfik and Hassan, a young Palestinian and his father, work there for Reuven. No one suspects that Mali and Tawfik have been in love for years. As the two lovers are secretly making their wedding arrangements, tension builds between Meir and Tawfik…"

Not only is this synopsis inaccurate - Palestinians call Jaffa the 'Bride of the Sea', not Israelis, who have dumped in it Tel Aviv's household and human trash - but it also describes only the first three minutes of the film, and gives the idea of a Middle Eastern Romeo and Juliet.
And it is anything but.

Here's a better synopsis: Mali and Toufik are secretly in love. Mali's brother Meir is a jerk. During a fistfight, Tawfik pushes Meir who falls on his dick-shaped head and dies. Tawfik goes to jail.
But - Mali's pregnant with the child of the man who killed her brother.
Then...


Spoiler hidden - click to expand!

Ah, you chose to read this anyway. Good for you :)
So Mali informs Toufik she's having an abortion - but decides to keep the baby anyway, telling her parents that the father is a married man and she wants nothing with him (surprisingly, they don't need to know more).
9 years later, the baby is a cute 9-year old (duh) girl named Shiran. Tawfik contacts Mali, who tells him they have a daughter. She argues with her parents - good scene here - and the film ends with Mali and Shiran on the beach, as Tawfik joins them.

The film heavily focuses on Mali and her family (by the way, why does this family eat sausages at every breakfast and lunch? Did the film producer buy sausages in bulk?); the other half of the love equation Tawfik and his father are little more than extras. Which is okay as a directorial choice, but it's leaving us wanting for more.

Dana Ivgi - Mali - does an amazing job, and carries the film throughout.

She could use a pair of tweezers though.

Moni Moshonov, the dad, was also remarkable. Ronit Elkabetz, who's the only name i recognised and I guess is supposed to bring starpower to the film, is awful in here role of a neurotic and over-caffeinated mother.

Hussein Yassin Mahajne, who plays Toufik's father, is (too) calm - resigned, uncomplaining vis-a-vis the social order of Jews being the bosses, Arabs being the workers, receiving insults in silence. I'd have loved to see him more though.

And Tawfik is... okay, sans plus. His face is as expressive as the Queen of Britain's.

And, interestingly, besides providing the chance for a few racial insults (by Meir's and his mother), the 'Arabs vs. Jews' aspect is completely irrelevant. They could've all been Jews or Chinese, the storyline would've held just the same.

I don't know if that was just a publicity stunt, or a shortcoming on the part of the director (as this reviewer thinks), who failed to utilise such a rich source of melodrama, or whether it was purposeful: by normalising race, the film might be a first step towards inclusiveness of Arabs in the Israeli mainstream media.

Part of me wants to give the the director, Keren Yedaya, the benefit of the doubt. But she misses such great opportunities for adding racial depth sometimes that I'm no longer sure.

Anywho. It's an okay film and it isn't, thankfully, a Romeo-and-Juliet. I'm not sure what it is though.