Perhaps the story is a bit thin but there is a lot to like in this Israeli movie. Oren leads a double life with wife and child in Jerusalem and a male lover in Berlin, who is a pastrycook and shares his love of fine cakes.
Then Oren is killed in a car crash and Thomas
takes it upon himself to fly to Israel and basically stalk the widow and get into her life by getting a job at her café. Things start to escalate as Thomas makes himself invaluable
without letting his secret out but Anat (Sarah Adler) slowly begins to piece things together.
What could be spooky or icky actually works thanks to the spare direction, slow pacing and focus on looks and feelings and the lead actress and Tim Kalkhof
as Thomas explore what it means to have loved and to be grieving. Add the issues of cooking and eating in Israel (kosher) into the recipe and you have a thoughtful work
on cross-cultural issues today: Jerusalem is not so modern or liberal as much of the world it is part of. And as you have guessed there is also a question of sexuality with Oren and Thomas apparently being bisexual. Nice direction by newie Ofir Raul Graizer, good photography by Omri Aloni and a soft soundtrack by Dominique Charpentier to accompany the melancholy greys
of both Berlin and Jerusalem.
♦♦♦+
passionfilm 