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Hanoch Levin and Vitek Tracz’s tragicomic fairytale opens on the dense and dilapidated streets of Tel Aviv. A man leaves one of the houses. To the charmingly maudlin sound of circus music, scored by acclaimed composer Rafi Kadishzon, we hear the V.O. narration of Yossi Banai who tells us of “an ugly, lonely, destitute man named Yaakov Kolf, who once lived in our town.”
This is Levin’s second and final foray into screenwriting, following Dan Wolman’s 1972 film, Floch. Contrary to the former, which was a fully collaborative co-writing partnership with the director that resulted in a ‘proper’ piece of filmmaking – a strange bird, by all accounts, amongst Levin’s prolific body of work – this film, on the other hand, complete with its characters and motifs, is that much more reminiscent of his stage work and plays.
Following the death of his mother, the terminally beige and boring Kolf realises that his life no longer has any meaning. His entire existence was spent in the certainty that there was something special out there, waiting just for him. Now, he is hit with the crushing realisation that such a thing does not exist. Gloska, who runs the local kiosk, is in love with Kolf – only her love is unrequited. Kolf, meanwhile, spends his days in the company of his chum Kreizer, who runs a brassiere shop and wakes up every morning, looking forward to yet another ‘tit-centric day. Kolf tries to hang himself from a tree in the local cemetery however, just then the Queen of Sweden goes by, having come to Israel in search of a husband. She saves Kolf’s life and takes an interest in him – however, that too is short-lived.
The film features two of Levin’s most famous songs, ‘Little Trouser Bird,’ and ‘Living From Day to Day’ (‘ani chaya li meyom le yom’) which, a decade later, smashed through the charts when it was recorded by ‘80s mega popstar Rita, with music by her then-husband, Rami Kleinstein.
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All rights are reserved to the Jerusalem Cinematheque – Israeli Film Archive (RA) and the rights holders of the works. Any use of works on the website for non-individual and non-personal purposes is strictly prohibited without prior, written permission.
For more information about the rights holders, please visit the relevant collection page, or contact the Jerusalem Cinematheque – Israeli Film Archive (RA) offices.
We have the utmost respect for all rights holders’ copyright and put great efforts to track down any and all intellectual property owners for the purpose of seeking and obtaining permission to use their materials featured on the website.
Any and all materials are used in accordance with clause 27a of the 2007 Copyright Act. If you believe that your rights as intellectual property and copyright owners of any material featured on this website have been compromised, then you may contact the Israeli Film Archive via email with a cease-and-desist notice, requesting that the material in alleged copyright infringement no longer be used. When contacting the archive, please state the merit to your copyright ownership claim, as well as your full name, email address, and telephone number, with a link to the relevant webpage.
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