Price : NIS15

Fantasia on a Romantic Theme

90 Minutes, 1977
Genre:
Feature

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Directed by: Vitek Tracz
Cast: Alex Monte, Ruth Segal, Dudu Topaz, Yehuda Fuchs, Nachum Buchman, Dori Ben-Zeev, Israel Guryon, Shmuel Wolf, Rivka Gur, Yosef Carmon, Avraham Heffner, Hinna Rozovska, Fanny Lubitsch, Raphael Klatchkin, Yossi Banai
Production:Dani Tracz
Production Company:פנס הקסם
Photographer: Hanania Baer
Original Music: Rafi Kadishzon
Language: Hebrew
| Subtitles not available

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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