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Plot Summary
Elzober's dream of owning a car has finally come true. After twenty years of working hard as a sushi chef in Tel Aviv and saving his money, the dream of a metallic black Subaru Legacy is finally his. But, the dream is sadly short-lived as the day after he picks up the car it is stolen. The inhabitants of his village are not willing to take such an injustice lying down and they decide to help him find his car. As they hunt down the Subaru in a warren of junkyards and scenes of daily life, everyone does their clumsy part, including Mahmoud, a former car thief. A FilmBuff Presentation.
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Customer Reviews
Quirky, fun, and insightful
At first glance, the attachment of a Japanese director to this subject matter - the ordinary lives of Israelis and Arabs at the border of the West Bank - seems random and even miscast.
However, director Kazuya Ogawa brings a unique, outside perspective to the content, which is both quirky, fun, approachable to audiences unfamiliar with the geography's politics or culture, and tremendously insightful.
The protagonist, Elzober, is a character you can immediately sympathize with. He is an ordinary man who has devoted his life towards a dream, albeit a materialistic one of buying a car, only to have it tragically and comically shattered immediately after it is achieved. Akram Telawe delivers a fantastic performance. His face is tremendously expressive and powerful.
The film is well-paced, both with its dramatic beats and hilarious beats. It fully engages the audience till the final, somewhat predictable, but satisfying climax.
Finally, what the film perhaps most excels at is its depiction of day-to-day life of the people at the border. The normal interaction between the Israeli car saleswoman and the Arab customer is a moment that audiences only seeing life in Israel through news reels would find novel and warm.
