policeman ( film )
with the headline: review / film; a preppy policeman cast into the inner city .
a version of this review ran during the 2011 locarno film festival. corinth films opens “policeman” in new york this friday .
the library policeman is a novella published in the book four past midnight by stephen king .
other reviews touched on the slow - pace of the film and lapid’s unique style as a director (“policeman” won praises from the new york times). there is something very european about the film, which also goes against the current trends in local cinema. i’ll make a few remarks about the politics of “policeman, ” which i thought to be very interesting, and unlike any other israeli film i’ve seen .
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“policeman” takes time and patience from its viewers, but once you devote yourself to it, it gives plenty in return .
after an extremely overdone prolog of violent mass murder on a bus, the laughing policeman becomes a handsomely made manhunt actioner .
the film was loosely remade with canon and ball in the 1984 as the boys in blue .
mark wahlberg produces and stars in the film about the tragic bombings at the 2013 boston marathon .
the laughing policeman, directed arta ora juced by stuart rosennrq, screenplay, thomas rickman; based on lie novel by per wahloo and mai siawail; director of photography, david walsh; film editor, robert wyman; music, charles fox, released by 20m fentury‐fox film corporation. at the national theater, 43d street and seventn avenue and the beekman theater, 65th and second avenue. running time: 112 minutes. this film is classified r .
the scene featuring the policeman talking at george parallels the opening clip of the character in the movie - within - the - movie being tortured by sound. perhaps the simple answer to the policeman - scene' s importance is that sound, or too much talk, does assault the ears .
developed by first - time director lapid at a cannes film festival residency, the script for “policeman” contains a persistently muted, disquieting tone that the director could expand upon in subsequent efforts. (his follow - up, “the kindergarten teacher, ” recently screened to acclaim in the latest cannes lineup .) despite its fragmented structure, “policeman” is loaded with coherent insight into the nuances of contemporary israeli society .
although an extremely violent movie, the laughing policeman benefits from skillful pacing, a literate script, and fine performances by walter matthau and bruce dern .
an interview with writer / director boots riley about his incendiary new film ,
sorry to bother you .
while most movies might film an exterior shot and film the corresponding interiors scenes elsewhere or on a studio set, this movie was filmed at real san francisco locations, with the corresponding interior scenes filmed in those same locations .
i don' t know if this is enough to ground the film. the entire second act, and most of the third, for that matter, seem intended to bring our policeman to the director' s intended conclusion. still, not an unpromising debut feature .
director nadav lapid made several short films during his studies in the sam spiegel film school, which were screened in cannes, berlin and locarno. his graduate film, emile’s girlfriend (50 min) was distributed in france. he participated in the festival de cannes residence, where he wrote the script for policeman. the project won the pitching price of the jerusalem film festival and of the thessaloniki film festival in 2008. keep on dancing, a collection of novels he wrote, was published in israel and france. lapid studied philosophy and history and worked as a sports and culture journalist, a television critic and documentary cinematographer .
named best film at the 2011 bafici (buenos aires festival internacional de cine independiente), in the international competition section .
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he added that he felt the weight of getting the story just right — maybe more than anyone involved with the film .
a man accused of beheading his neighbour won the role of a policeman in an australian thriller but left town before filming his scenes as a nationwide manhunt was launched .
the tomatometer score — based on the opinions of hundreds of film and television critics — is a trusted measurement of critical recommendation for millions of fans. it represents the percentage of professional critic reviews that are positive for a given film or television show .
policeman is a movie starring yiftach klein, yaara pelzig, and michael moshonov. a member of an israeli anti - terrorist unit clashes with a group of young radicals .
yiftach klein as a member of a counterterrorism unit confronted by a different kind of adversary in a scene from the israeli drama “policeman, ” written and directed by nadav lapid .
“i started working on the film and doing my homework and research about a month before going to boston to film, and then maybe a week before going to boston i got [ dun meng' s ] number from production, ” meng told the hollywood reporter .
the laughing policeman is an awfully good police movie: taut, off - key, filled with laconic performances. it provides the special delight we get from gradually unraveling a complicated case .
the continuing love affair between movie makers and a violent and photogenic san francisco is exposed with fresh ardor by “the laughing policeman, ” which came to the national and beekman theaters yesterday .
davis told the boston globe, “they really did get an enormous amount of detail into the film... . it’s really well done. ” davis played an important and active role during filming, offering up additional details to make the film’s portrayal of events as accurate as possible .
the film is interesting for what it shows of san francisco' s undertown but its psychology is lame [ and ] the plot an illogical mess .
melissa benoist plays katherine russell, the widow of tamerlan tsarnaev. russell has not been shy about expressing her dislike over the film’s portrayal of her .
everyone seems lost in nadav lapid’s “policeman” (“ha - shoter”), an unsettling story of brawny israeli anti - terrorist officers and the equally clueless activists they’re eventually tasked with hunting down. while blatantly topical, this is not a political film of the moment, but rather a calculated meditation on self - defined purpose in the midst of societal confusion .
“a boldly conceived and bracingly told political drama, policeman (hashoter) possesses a special contemporary pertinence in the wake of the recent massive protests relating to the vast class and economic disparities in israel. ”
the ballad of narayama
is a japanese film of great beauty and elegant artifice, telling a story of startling cruelty. what a space it opens…
the kindergarten teacher sarit larry as the title character, whose encouragement threatens to turn into obsession, and avi shnaidman as her student in nadav lapid’s film .
the film’s stylistic fluency evinces a different kind of superiority. if lapid learned his skills in school, he clearly aced art film 101. somewhat like denis villaneuve’s
incendies ,
a much better film, its combination of deliberate compositions, nuanced cinematography and sharply staged action suggests a director who’s assimilated lessons from kubrick, oliver stone and other master directors. if he evolves a moral vision to match his stylistic savvy, lapid will be a force to be reckoned with .
in the end, what separates the two parts of the film is their relation to reality. what lapid describes in his account of the policemen’s lives is of the order of documentary. what he invents in the second part is of the order of fantasy, a cry of anger against the government: science fiction that is in the process of becoming fiction. in the weeks following its first screening at the jerusalem film festival (where it won three awards), the film took on a troublingly prophetic dimension in light of the wave of protests and demonstrations by young israelis, who poured into the streets shouting the same slogans shira uses at the end of the film: “police, you are not our enemies. you too are the oppressed. ” in israel, this outstanding political film has thus become a standard - bearer for youth who are angry with a government they loathe. elsewhere in the world, policeman may well also impress for more than the chilling perfection of its mise en scène .
i know lapid pretty well so i got to see “policeman” in an early screening, and i haven’t seen it since. but the movie, which was screened in new york last week, stuck with me in more than one way. right now there aren’t any future screenings listed on the film’s site, but if there are in the future, i recommend checking it out .
lapid makes a rare choice in ‘policeman’ – he leaves the palestinian conflict in the background (mainly through yaron’s attempt to end the probe against his unit), and instead focuses on the internal israeli dynamic: the young rebels versus the heart of the mainstream. this already means that the film will not follow the shooting - and - crying formula, which is common in works of popular culture that have attempted to deal with the conflict from an israeli perspective. in most of them, the israeli protagonist was portrayed more as a victim of the conflict rather than a perpetrator (i touched this when in my reviews of “ zero dark thirty, ” and the same formula runs through ari shavit’s my promised land as well). this ritual of self pity and absolution doesn’t take place in “policeman” – not for the policeman and not for the viewers .
the political drama, which centers on the leader of a squad of highly trained officers who deal with arab terrorists, won awards at the jerusalem and locarno film festivals .
by the end, complete with car chase and split - second shooting, the film has become indistinguishable from all those movies it' s trying so hard to disown .
“it’s been a long time since a first feature has displayed such masterly direction as nadav lapid’s policeman (hashoter), such a sense of connection to the films of godard, bresson, fassbinder, kubrick, and haneke, and giving those more perceptive viewers such a conviction of witnessing the arrival of an outstanding filmmaker while also discovering a major film as brilliant in formal terms as in its ideas. ”
the beach boys and several rap groups slug it out for supremacy in'' downtown,'' a film that contrasts the cushy working conditions enjoyed by policemen along philadelphia' s main line (computer - equipped offices, freshly ground coffee beans) with those endured by their inner city counterparts (shootouts in the office practically every day). emphasizing this clash of cultures,'' downtown'' may be the only film in which a white, preppy policeman (anthony edwards) has taught the kids of a black downtown cop (forest whitaker) how to surf .
written and directed by nadav lapid; director of photography, shai goldman; edited by era lapid; produced by itai tamir; released by corinth films. at the elinor bunin munroe film center, 144 west 65th street, lincoln center. in hebrew and english, with english subtitles. running time: 1 hour 45 minutes. this film is not rated .
policeman ,
by debuting israeli director nadav lapid, is a curiously bifurcated film. it starts out telling the story of one group of characters, the policemen suggested by the title. then, about halfway through, it abruptly shifts to focus on another group, a small band of left - wing radicals. naturally, the two stories converge toward the narrative’s end, but that doesn’t overcome the sense that the film suffers from a deeper bifurcation: a split between actually saying something about the tricky political and cultural issues it treats, and appearing to do so while shying away from that task’s toughest challenges .
the primary cast and crew of the british comedy classic' oh, mr. porter!' are teamed up again in this film that has performances that are just as delightful, and humour that is just as charming. upon comparison with' oh, mr. porter!' it is easy to dismiss this film as its inferior, however it is in fact almost up to the same quality. the film is often hilarious in the first half, and in the second half there are suspense elements well worked into the plot. some of the lines are hysterically funny, and graham moffatt has hardly been better, playing the smartest, but yet also the slackest, of the bunch. no one does ineptitude as well as will hay, and this film is further proof of this. moore marriott is delightful as always and has an amusing second role here. the film' s technical side may be no match for the technical side of' oh, mr. porter!', but no doubt a lot of care and consideration was taken to scout out all the appropriately dark settings. the gags are most of the storyline and the subject matter is too slim for a full - length film, but for what it is, the film is excellent and immensely entertaining along the way. simple comedies, and old british comedies, hardly get better than this .
the timing of the release of israeli filmmaker nadav lapid’s debut, “ policeman, ” was very unique in israel: october 2011, right after that summer’s so - called tent protests, which saw hundreds of thousands israelis take to the streets over social and economic issues. “policeman, ” which was shot and completed before the surprising demonstrations erupted, tells the story of a confrontation between a group of young revolutionaries plotting to kidnap a local tycoon, and a police officer in an anti - terror unit that will be called upon stop them .
in israeli war films of the last decades, the heroes are usually powerless guys who are dragged into the war; a fact that reflects something deep in the psychology of an extremely powerful and potent society. but the policeman in lapid’s film is more like the israel who is idolized in the local news. yaron is chauvinistic, militaristic, childish and rude, but also charismatic and even charming. i found him to be rather lovable – yet at the same time there is something disturbing about him, and the automatic nature in which he carries himself. yiftach is like a machine, which only comes to a brief halt at the very last moment of the film .
however, there is quite a bit more to the film than that. it takes place in world war ii, during the time when japan occupied manchuria. a group of japanese soldiers at sendai (located in northeastern japan and a good distance away from tokyo) discover the body of a dismembered woman in a well. at least a month goes by, and the investigation into the woman' s death goes nowhere. cue the arrival of miltary policeman staff sergeant kosaka to solve this mystery !
much of the film is crude, full of
visit san francisco
photography and matthau isn' t on the same great form as he was as the transit cop in the taking of pelham one two three .
a policeman is among the victims when the passengers of a late - night bus are machine - gunned. with only one semi - conscious survivor and no other witnesses, the detectives try to learn from the identities of the dead why this happened and who the killer could be. climax includes excellent chase .
artist in the first layer, gives a very strong story about a period of time in film history that some main actors of silent era fall from their popularity, the other good example of this kind of caters is sunset blvd .
the two stories inevitably converge with an act of violence that unfolds as a gripping climax. though yaron drops out the picture just when he starts to show the cracks in his robust personality, when he returns for the exceptional finale, he shows the first signs of doubt. it’s here that “policeman” adopts a progressive stance .
the actual gun used in the film is a smith & wesson m76 9mm machine gun without the barrel shroud and not an m3. 45 caliber
grease gun
made by gm guide lamp division for wwii use. the omission of the barrel shroud gives the appearance of an m3. if one sticks to the story line, the m3 magazine held 30 rounds. 45 acp and cycled around 450 rpm. this is sufficient to inflict the damage and wounds shown in the film .
“the kindergarten teacher” — the film as well as the character — yearns for different values, for intensity, beauty and meaning. its sobering lesson is that the search for those things is most likely to end in madness, confusion and violence .
though an essentially familiar amalgam of murder, manhunt and dogged police work in that scenic city, this “policeman” stands a good deal taller than the norm because of the expert guidance of stuart rosenberg, the producer‐director. he is effectively aided by a fine script and a cast as convincing as a live cop or a dead gunman .
brilliant how lapid deconstructs his entire political setup by showing no character is politically invested in it. the policemen (and the titular policeman especially) are in it for the violence and the revolutionaries because they' re in love with each other or themselves or because they love their son. there are no politics - only petty people .
the image of stenberg painted by the film - maker does not fit the one depicted by police who have been hunting him. the alleged killer reportedly left a hat in place of his victim' s head before fleeing the scene of the crime .
although several real - life individuals are depicted in the film, star mark wahlberg plays a fictional character named sgt. tommy saunders, who' s a composite of three boston police officers who worked the boston marathon and aided in the manhunt that followed .
a remarkable film that consciously, sometimes self - reflexively omits all the usual elements one expects of an israeli film: arab conflict, herzl references, etc. instead, it digs into the domestic issues that can be overlooked, of social inequality and internal political tensions. but terrorist concerns manage to shape basic domestic law enforcement, and the climax throws together counterterrorist forces and some homegrown radicals together in such a way that a thriller does not even have time to form because israeli defense forces are so uncompromisingly trained .
it’s been a long time since a first feature has displayed such masterly direction as nadav lapid’s policeman (hashoter), such a sense of connection to the films of godard, bresson, fassbinder, kubrick, and haneke, and giving those more perceptive viewers such a conviction of witnessing the arrival of an outstanding filmmaker while also discovering a major film as brilliant in formal terms as in its ideas. at a time when all the best new directors (serra, gomes, alonso) are implicitly demonstrating a political dimension to their work through the very act fact of producing and filming in a different way—usually steering clear of the big issues and rejecting a frontal approach to historical, ideological, and social concerns—lapid dares to make explicitly political films. one might say that as an israeli, he has no choice in the matter. the impressive thing about policeman, which won the special jury prize in locarno, is that it is both the best political film in ages (including and especially in israel) and also one of the most stimulating cinematic propositions of recent years, resolving the form and content problem thanks to a stunning feat of dramaturgy while its powerful mise en scène expresses ideas that are just as radical .
lapid presents these two storylines as representing increasingly at - war factions of the current israeli consciousness, and as such, they’re destined to come to a head during policeman ’s finale. lapid’s stewardship in the lead - up to that confrontation is remarkably assured, capturing an ever - present atmosphere of clique - ish camaraderie and pent - up fury and fanaticism through intense close - ups and vivid compositions of dynamic tension. as with a shot in which oded and his dad travel back and forth between kitchen and dining room, the two always in separate spaces that are visually divided by a wall, the film’s aesthetics convey class, gender and age schisms with subtle urgency. when the powder - keg fuse is finally lit, suspense mounts not so much with regards to the eventual outcome, as the circumstances can only lead to one real resolution, but to the way in which the various characters will reconcile their convictions and choices with the realities they face. as such, policeman ’s apex proves to be its final shot, a shared look between shira and yaron—she perhaps seeing the humanity in him, he trying to process that this terrorist is not an arab but a jew—that beautifully embodies the film’s formal and thematic fissures .
wendy, while it seems either is a policeman, or is masquerading as one, was the accountant for the investment that all the members of the group, except for ian played by jim howick, were a part of. and as the remaining member of the group – not johnners, played by stephen campbell moore – stands to claim the whole lot .
about halfway the movie leaves yaron and turns to the revolutionaries. lapid places a special emphasis on their internal dynamics in the group, which is centered on a love triangle. the third and final part of the film brings about the inevitable confrontations between the two groups .
policeman (ha - shoter) has been floating around in limbo since festival season in 2011 and almost counts as a 2014 release now. the film is divided into three parts, the first is set around a member of an elite task force trying to juggle a pregnant wife, the rest of his family, his job and doing right by a dying colleague. this is by far the best part, and yiftach klein is great. the second part revolves around a group of jewish socalist extremists in the final stages of a violent act of revolt. as you might have guessed, the third part blends the two in a tense climax .
a fantastic new israeli movie which received praising reviews at locarno festival 2011. a policeman in an elite counter - terrorism unit is thrown into an identity chaos, when he needs to face a hostage situation created by a marxist revolutionary group that strives for a new social order. starring: michael aloni, yiftach klein, keren mor, michael mushonov, menashe noi, yaara pelzig
when lapid wrote a script about violent internal struggle over economic issues in a country whose politics had been dominated by the conflict for a century, it must have seemed like science fiction (in interviews, lapid referred to it as “a fantasy”). by the time the film was released lapid’s fantasy seemed more like a prophesy, winning the movie a nice turnout and more attention than one could expect from a movie that is very challenging, both in style and in content. and yet don’t be fooled: at the heart of “policeman” lies a delicate deconstruction of modern israeli identity, and like everything israeli, it has a lot to do with the palestinians .
the policemen depicted in the film’s first part are not ordinary cops but a five - man team in the israeli defense ministry’s elite anti - terrorism unit. in other words, they’re assigned not to police regular israelis but to control palestinians (a. k. a. terrorists), often by lethal means. the film doesn’t start out explaining this, or showing the men in action; rather it stresses their macho camaraderie with scenes of them bicycling across the desert and engaging in horse play, playful wrestling matches and endless back - slapping at a tel aviv barbeque .
“you are also oppressed, ” the young activist announces to the cop before they eagerly dismantle a poorly executed hostage situation while mocking her accusation. yaron says nothing, but his face speaks volumes about the possibility that some aspect of that vague proclamation has burrowed into his mind and held tight. stuck in a listless world for much of its running time, “policeman” ends with the slightest hint of progress .
john goodman plays former boston police commissioner ed davis. prior to filming, davis was asked to be a consultant during the film’s production. hesitant to jump on board, it was the efforts of wahlberg, berg and the producers to portray the tragedy in the most accurate and respectful way that captured davis’ attention .
can a 5 - year - old boy be a literary genius? and if so, how might his precocious gift be nurtured and protected? these are, on the surface, among the main questions posed by “ the kindergarten teacher, ” a self - assured, remarkably powerful film from the israeli writer - director nadav lapid .
sam peebles is a local businessman asked to give a speech to the rotary club. to do research for his speech, sam goes to the local library to rent books. when there, he realizes that he has not been to a library in many years. he meets the librarian ardelia lortz, who warns him to return his books on time or face the wrath of the library policeman. later, sam' s assistant naomi tells him that ardelia lortz is dead and is an old legend in the town. sam learns her story through the words of her former lover and finds that ardelia lortz was a horrible creature who fed on the fear of children. this struggle with a monster throws sam back into an experience he had when he last visited a library as a child. to defeat the evil ardelia and survive, sam must face the horror of his childhood and defeat the library policeman forever .
i think that lapid is interested in the israeli – in the psyche of the national character. he clearly loves his characters, but as the film progresses, you get the feeling that something went terribly wrong with them. that’s true to the anarchists as well, whose leader turns out to be a man of words, not action .
all of it was difficult ,
he said
talking about it, making it. it' s not like you could detach at any point. it was on my shoulders as the face of this film. i pride myself on being from boston. i like being able to go home and being welcomed with open arms .
following hard on the heels of bullitt, the french connection and dirty harry, the laughing policeman stars walter matthau as the veteran cop investigating a mass slaughter on a public bus. the trail leads to the gay underworld and a lot of closet doors. like eastwood' s dirty harry, matthau has to cut through miles of red tape that favours the criminal and makes the cops look like ss stormtroopers. san francisco is the slightly over - familiar backdrop to all this and it ends, predictably, with a bus journey along those up - and - down, bouncy - bouncy streets. much of the film is crude, full of
visit san francisco
photography and matthau isn' t on the same great form as he was as the transit cop in the taking of pelham one two three .
downtown, directed by richard benjamin; written by nat mauldin; director of photography, richard h. kline; edited by jacqueline cambas and brian chambers; music by alan silvestri; production designer, charles rosen; produced by charles h. maguire; released by 20th century - fox. running time: 97 minutes. this film is rated r .
not as bad as the other comments would suggest ,
the laughing policeman
is a police procedural mystery that lacks the spark of great thriller genre films. what this does have is some very good acting, especially from the lead players, and a decent script with interesting characters. the plot does get a little convoluted near the end and the action is inspired by better films, but it is worth a watch. i' d give it a mild recomendation .
written and directed by nadav lapid; director of photography, shai goldman; edited by era lapid; production design by miguel merkin; costumes by doron ashkenazi; produced by talia kleinhendler, osnat handelsman - keren and carole scotta; released by kino lorber. in hebrew, with english subtitles. running time: 1 hour 59 minutes. this film is not rated .
credit much of the film' s flavor and insights to thomas rickman' s adaptation of the novel by the swedish husband‐and‐wife team of per wahloo and maj sjowall. this script captures the character and the earthy, germane vernacular, four‐letter and otherwise, of the police, street people, blacks, prostitutes and pimps of san francisco that substitutes for the book' s stockholm .
i think plain and simple it' s a
fourth - wall
thing. he was waiting for the dialogue card to roll in when the policeman started talking to him, as was the premise of the movie. when this didn' t happen he was confused, it felt as if he was ostracised not only from the hollywoodland world, but from this same
the artist
picture altogether. thus he decided it was time to call it quits. it' s a meta - thing. to me, the
accent
explanation is contrived and the repeat of the
disorienting live sound
explanation doesn' t make sense as a vehicle at that point, it' s regressive. so the key to interpret the scene is the absence of dialogue - cue cards. notice how he takes his eyes away from the policeman and where the director or crew of the film is supposed to be, almost desperately waiting and ponderding as to why they are taunting him with not doing their job and not providing cards. he' s like
oh, now you wanna make this movie a talking one, screw you then, i' m out of here
. the resolution of the film then comes, not only in terms of the story, but very much so from this movie remaining a silent one after the averted suicide (notice the bang card, there weren' t any
sound - descriptive cards
up to then, also the making - up scene is eeriely silent despite the windy conditions, barking, shouting, crying, laughing, etc .). then comes the accent thing, as a twister on that. but only as a twister. if the accent thing was all that important, the big producers would never ask of george to transition in the first place. to suggest it as a main premise of the film and not a twister, to me, it' s
thinking - too - hard
and also a bit racist as well. accent wouldn' t have been a thing if he wanted to transition. in the end, the artist compromises with another form of pure
art
, the dance. and then it' s
let there be sound
.
the film juxtaposes police practices and points of view in varied vignettes, from anthony zerbe' s characterization of the harassed lieutenant yelling for results to lou gossett' s black detective who realy knows his black suspects and can handle them. and a number of bit performances, including actual police squads and a team of emergency‐room doctors, lend vivid local color and authenticity to an engrossing and adult crime caper .
i think the answers are complicating the scene. i have actually worked on the publicity of the film in east asia and discussed the film in depth with experts for rating purposes, so here' s what i know from there. in this scene, george valentin realizes that the world around him has audible speech. now, when he hears the cop speaking, it hits him hard that everyone does actually have sound and it will soon hit the movies. thus, hurting his ego even further that he was wrong flaunting his pride. the scene where we cut to a lot of mouths speaking create a disturbing and disorienting noise for him driving him to attempt suicide. there is so much noise in the world, that its amplified in his head, there is no place for a proud silent star .
but it’s also hard to shake the suspicion that she may be right about yoav, and correct in her increasingly despairing assessment of his environment. like many israeli filmmakers, mr. lapid uses cinema as a vehicle for social criticism, but both the intensity and the orientation of his critique set him apart from his peers. the israeli - palestinian conflict, an unavoidable and in some respects easy subject for liberal - minded artists and writers, is largely absent from “the kindergarten teacher, ” as it was from his previous feature, “policeman. ”
one of the film’s greatest achievements is its ability to describe the israeli crisis without the use of arab characters (the more common method for self criticism is by idolizing the victim). thus, lapid also avoids all the problems in such a representation faced by other israeli cinematographers, or western ones in general. instead, he turns his gaze inward, in an internal investigation that is both caring and honest .
her lawyer, amato deluca, told the associated press that the film suggests she had an inkling of the attack prior to the marathon and failed to cooperate with authorities in their investigation. deluca said: “i have no objection to them making a movie. … what i quarrel with is the license they take in portraying katie as someone who did not cooperate and try to save lives. she did everything she could .
there are moments in “policeman” when it feels as if the director nadav lapid is drawing one very large noose around his characters. that’s especially true early in this hypnotic, slow - building shocker from israel, before the narrative pieces have slid into place, revealing mr. lapid’s intentions. certainly, nothing looks out of the ordinary in the opening images of five men bicycling up a steep country road. that is until one, yaron (yiftach klein), breaks away and begins riding so hard and fast toward the camera that he looks as if he might break through the screen .
lapid’s script explores the personal dimensions of the israeli - palestinian conflict in a manner that few other recent entries in israeli cinema have even tried: while eytan fox’s “bubble” featured pro - palestinian israeli youth activists in tel aviv, it placed them within a familiar comedic backdrop, positioning the subculture in a cheery genre ready - made for western consumption. “policeman, ” with its experimental pace and atmosphere, doesn’t make things easy on its audience. it forges an argument by implication and steeped in universal confusion: alienated from their cause, the activists are just as conflicted as yaron as he struggles with the nature of his duty .
yönetmen nadav lapid' in ilk uzun metraj çalışması olmasından kaynaklanıyor diye düşündüğüm, yer yer amatör bir çizgiyi takip eden film ki, bu durum filme kesinlikle eksi bir değer katmamış zira oyunculuklar oldukça iyi; kapitalizmin pençesinde artık nefes almakta zorlanan dünyamızda, i̇srail' den yükselen bir çığlık gibi. gerçi tam bir çığlık diyemeyiz, daha çok yüksek desibelde bir serzeniş misali. ama sonuçta biliyoruz ki, insan her yerde aynı. fazla aksiyon beklentisi içine girmezseniz, keyifli bir seyirlik olacaktır .
the couple jointly told boston magazine of their portrayals in the film and the actors who played them: “rachel and christopher were so sweet together. they brought so much talent to their roles, but they were also truly interested in our own experience. we feel a strong obligation to be representatives of the larger survivor community. the filmmakers somehow found us and asked us to be a part of this, but we hope our story is somewhat emblematic of each survivor’s story. ”
experiencing yoav’s poems is its own kind of eavesdropping. it’s hard for a hebrewless reader of english subtitles to judge their literary merits, but the film’s internal experts, nira included, are impressed enough with their linguistic polish and thematic sophistication to elevate them above mere verbal child’s play. nira introduces her protégé to the work of his precursors, including the israeli “national poet” chaim nachman bialik. she is concerned with the progress of yoav’s “career, ” a strange notion given his age .
jonathon stenberg, 46, was captured in the australian outback last week after six days on the run from police, but not before he turned up at a casting call in the remote town of winton, queensland, where the film mystery road – ironically, the story of a murder hunt – was being filmed. second assistant director mark ingram, whose movie stars hugo weaving, said stenberg was the first person to audition, after apparently seeing an advert in a petrol station window .
the leader of this group, yaron (yiftach klein), is described as an
alpha male
in the press notes, and the film displays an almost - lipsmacking avidity in conveying his masculine hotness. in one early scene, he puts an upbeat tune on the stereo and dances seductively in his short - shorts for his wife, and us, as if to make sure we haven’t failed to notice his sexy build. but yaron’s also a guy facing challenges on several fronts .
there is something unusual about this muted drama. the film' s title (singular) and the narrative structure point to the individual, rather than the societal, but the camera' s focus on women (the waitress whom he tells to
touch it
, the odd look on his face when the blond girl' s identity is revealed, the fact that he pulls his pager out while carrying his wife up the stairs, etc .) suggests a deeper social theme at play .
pugliese and his wife stayed in a hotel for a few days while the crew filmed at his real home. a consultant on the film, he praised berg and simmons .
the director, peter berg, i' ve gotten to know pretty well — he' s a really nice guy ,
pugliese told wicked local, which covers eastern massachusetts .
and j. k. simmons, the guy portraying me, he' s a really nice guy too. down - to - earth people .
davis ultimately says he' s happy with goodman’s portrayal and proud of the film — and his involvement with it — as a whole. “mark has an incredible commitment to the community, to the city ,
he said .
and so when you combine him with peter berg’s sort of human side of telling a story and then michael radutzky’s, you know, hard - hitting journalist, that combination was incredible. they got real good content in this – real facts, behind - the - scenes stuff. ”
prior to and during filming, beach and patrick formed a close relationship, with patrick sharing personal details of his life with beach. “he told me a lot of things that are not in the film about what he was going through personally and the decision that he had to make ,
beach told entertainment website we got this covered .
he’s the governor, but he’s just a regular human being as well, doing his normal business and how it turned everything around from what he was expecting to do. ”
dun
danny
meng is another real - life person whose experience during the boston marathon bombing was dramatized in the film. a 26 - year - old chinese entrepreneur, meng was held at gunpoint by bombers dzhokhar and tamerlan tsarnaev for 90 minutes. his mercedes was carjacked by the bombers, and it wasn’t until they stopped at a gas station, and one of the brothers left the car, that meng would make his escape. meng was able to quickly run into a gas station across the street and alert the authorities .
in “policeman, ” mr. lapid, making an electrifying feature directing debut, traces the line between the group and the individual in a story that can be read as a commentary on the world as much as on israel. with a steady camera and cool approach, he devotes the movie’s first part to peeling away yaron’s life, one layer at a time. each stratum reveals a new truth about a man who puts up a bland, macho front. his wife, nili (meital berdah), is about to give birth to their first child, a milestone that, with an escalating sense of unease, keeps coming up against another benchmark: charges that, during a raid, yaron and his team killed some arab civilians, including a child .
this study of israeli males and manhood continues with the portrait of the revolutionary group. though i found this part of the film to be less interesting or compelling, there is a touching plot line about a one rebel who is raised by a single father, a political activist who gave it all up. the mother is absent – i don’t remember why – and there is some gentle hopelessness in both father and son. if yaron runs on autopilot, these two simply lost their way. in both cases, the results are just as disastrous in both cases .
i dunno about this one. it stars an israeli policeman in a elite counter - terrorism unit. but don' t expect much action. the guy is an arrogant dick, clearly, but the movie can' t quite commit to making him one, mostly since he' s the main character, and we spend the first half of the movie wandering around, doing things that are presumably going to play into the plot, but in the end they really don' t, like going to a barbecue with all his squad buddies, most of whom are also dicks, except one is dying of cancer, but he was probably a dick before all that got started. his wife is about to give birth, and he' s kinda shook up about the whole…
nira is startled and intrigued, and the evolution of her interest in yoav drives the film’s suspenseful, unnerving, bizarre and strangely believable plot. at first, like any conscientious teacher, she is solicitous and encouraging. it’s always good to recognize and celebrate what is special in a child. the budding bard is in most respects a perfectly ordinary child, roughhousing and practicing swear words with his best pal, playing in the sandbox and demanding snacks when he’s hungry. it’s possible to read signs of unusual intelligence in his expressions, but his most prominent feature is a face that seems created to invite a grandmother’s pinches .
unlike the other actors, benoist did not get to meet her real - life counterpart. she said ,
everyone on the film that had a real - life counterpart got to interact with them and have conversations or work very closely with them, and obviously that was not something i could do. but a lot of what peter berg said to me while we were on set was,' i don’t want to know what she’s thinking – because we don' t.' so that was a lot of what i drew from, that she was just very concealed and we don’t really know a lot about her. it was a challenge .
but does lapid really believe that the issue of israel’s rich - poor divide belongs only to crazed fanatics like his leftist militants? for that matter, does this group resemble any that is active in israel today? one of the film’s problems as a drama about cultural and political problems is that all of its people seem to inhabit a thankless zone between being actual characters and arch caricatures. that archness leaves the filmmaker in a position of presumed intellectual and moral superiority, from which he can look down not only on his fictional creations but also on the real people who are struggling with the problems he evokes. this may be a comfortable perspective, but it is not an illuminating one .
at work, yaron’s unit is troubled by the knowledge that the leanest of its members has a large growth in his head. an upcoming medical test will determine if it’s cancerous. meanwhile, the entire group is under investigation for a lethal incident. the press notes describe this as
an unforgivable accident resulting from a miscalculation during a recent rescue mission .
but that’s an obvious attempt to soft - pedal something rather different. the incident, as the film describes it, was not a mission of rescue but to assassinate a
terrorist ,
and it resulted in the death or severe wounding of several other members of the targeted man’s family, including a five - year - old boy .
in that film, which tracks the parallel stories of a group of left - wing jewish militants and an elite police unit, mr. lapid explored the alienation and class conflict that fester beneath the prosperous surface of contemporary israeli society. “the kindergarten teacher” is a furious indictment of the materialism and complacency of 21st - century life, in israel and implicitly beyond. yoav, innocent and barely conscious of the meaning of his poems, is the uncanny voice of a disinherited tradition. his father, a flashy restaurateur, has no use for poetry. the boy’s uncle, who published a volume of verses before drifting into bitterness and penury as a journalist, is a grim specter of literary failure. such poets as exist in the world — the shouters at the reading, nira’s workshop instructor — run the gamut from vulgar to pretentious .
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policeman ( hebrew : השוטר , translit . ha-shoter ) is a 2011 israeli drama film directed by nadav lapid . policeman won multiple awards at the 2011 jerusalem film festival . 
policeman (hebrew: השוטר, translit. ha-shoter) is a 2011 israeli drama film directed by nadav lapid. policeman won multiple awards at the 2011 jerusalem film festival.
policeman (hebrew: השוטר, translit. ha-shoter) is a 2011 israeli drama film directed by nadav lapid. policeman won multiple awards at the 2011 jerusalem film festival.