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Ajami 2010
Any scenario you can dream up I can just about point to a crime film and say "yep that's been done in that one". The critical consensus is that Ajami is a new entry in the elite league of neo-foreign crime films, along with the likes of City of God, Gomorra, and Un prophète. It's very much in line with the style of that cinema. It's not something entirely new, rather a geographical spin, and it often won't play to it's best elements. It also takes a while to tie it's lacework of Israel, where families stick together and ancient feuds of ethnic hatred thrive and fade.
Ajami's biggest trick is diluting and reversing assumptions. It follows around five main characters, and does well giving them a practical hand in the fanning mystery. The performances are fine, but we only ever slightly burrow into them. It's not so much about who these people are, rather what they do and how their environment reacts to it.
It being so geo-centric though, I'm baffled how we don't set foot in a single church or mosque. Religious and racial hatred inexplicably burst out of characters and the roots are never explored, only exploited. There isn't much big-scale photography of Israel either, most of locations are ripened concrete and not so exotic urban stretches. Is Israel really this familiar in materials to America ?
It only offers a glance at Israel, not through the eyes of criminals but through the eyes of every day people sticking their noses in crime. It you leaves early, demanding more.
Any scenario you can dream up I can just about point to a crime film and say "yep that's been done in that one". The critical consensus is that Ajami is a new entry in the elite league of neo-foreign crime films, along with the likes of City of God, Gomorra, and Un prophète. It's very much in line with the style of that cinema. It's not something entirely new, rather a geographical spin, and it often won't play to it's best elements. It also takes a while to tie it's lacework of Israel, where families stick together and ancient feuds of ethnic hatred thrive and fade.
Ajami's biggest trick is diluting and reversing assumptions. It follows around five main characters, and does well giving them a practical hand in the fanning mystery. The performances are fine, but we only ever slightly burrow into them. It's not so much about who these people are, rather what they do and how their environment reacts to it.
It being so geo-centric though, I'm baffled how we don't set foot in a single church or mosque. Religious and racial hatred inexplicably burst out of characters and the roots are never explored, only exploited. There isn't much big-scale photography of Israel either, most of locations are ripened concrete and not so exotic urban stretches. Is Israel really this familiar in materials to America ?
It only offers a glance at Israel, not through the eyes of criminals but through the eyes of every day people sticking their noses in crime. It you leaves early, demanding more.