A review of the film AMERICA, a 2022 2:7 hours suspense-drama by director/writer Ofir Raul Graizer, with Israeli actors Oshrat Ingadashet, Michael Moshonov, and Ofri Biterman.
Life events have consequences and the consequences are one’s life. This is basically the entire film ‘AMERICA’ story.
Why is it called AMERICA? Because the Israeli-born director-writer Ofir Raul Graizer, whose vision of America was that it is the goose that lays the golden eggs of life, put his foot on United States soil only at the age of 38; America is where Ofir puts his film’s main character who ran away from his home in Israel, from a childhood of domestic abuse, violence, and humiliation to start a new life under an assumed new name.
The string of events upon which the story is based is full of suspicion and suspense, sunk into beautiful nature and floral cinematography.
The Story Synopsis
AMERICA is an Israeli-German-Czech co-production full of Israeli culture clichés. It is about an Israeli swimming tutor living in Chicago, who has to return to Israel after 10 years of absence, to bury his father and take care of his father’s will as well as coping with the past he hoped to leave behind.
Upon his return to his neighborhood, an inescapable encounter with a neighbor, a beloved childhood friend, and his newly engaged girlfriend will set an unexpected series of events that will affect the lives of everyone involved.
Though the story is dramatic with much suspense, the atmosphere is soothed and calmed down by cinematography of great flower and nature scenes, while life and death events take place in a floral shop, an ancient monastery, a swimming pool in Chicago, and Israel, the Mediterranean Sea – and somewhere in the middle.
The Proverbial Triangle
It appears that the writer-director Ofir likes the complexity of the romantic threesome with his own imaginary sensitive touch attached to it. Ofir also likes to intertwine into his plot the beauty of creation, as human beings project it, whether it is the kneading of the dough with a loving tender touch, in his The Cakemaker film, or preparing floral arrangements with all of the colors of the flowers, both speak to the emotional side of the viewer.
The Special Screening
In March 2023, a special screening of the film “AMERICA” was held in Los Angeles, under the auspices of Hilary Helstein, director of the LA Jewish Film Festival (LAJFF) and Neil Friedman of Menemsha Films and in partnership with the Consulate General of Israel and the Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany, Consul General Stefan Schneider. They hosted Israeli Academy Award-winning filmmaker, Ofir Raul Graizer, known as the writer-director of his romantic-drama film “The Cakemaker,” and now the triangle suspense-romance film “AMERICA.”
LAJFF’s mission is to educate, captivate, and share with filmgoers films that imprint one’s memory and help create a deeper understanding of humanity through a Jewish-Jewish-Israeli lens. The idea is to have the power of cinema resonate with the viewers long after the reading of the credits ended.
Though the COVID era posed many challenges to humanity’s day-to-day life and disrupted or brought to a complete halt community activities, including LAJFF activities, finally, during May 17-23, 2023, the annual festival screening and events will be fully restored and resumed.
LAJFF is a sponsored base organization. Thanks to its sponsors and moviegoer aficionados, LAJFF during these past few years has been able to continue to deliver world-class films and programs. Becoming an LAJFF tax-deductible sponsor guarantees the Festival’s continuation while being a member comes along with enjoying the benefits offered, including impacting one’s community.
If there are those people who falsely point at Israel to be a discriminatory apartheid state, well, the film AMERICA will prove them to be very wrong.
Seeing the film AMERICA is a filmgoing experience I do not remember having before. The film is full of mesmerizing twists of events that we rarely see in today’s film industry content. Something out of the box of film production worthwhile spending with the popcorn bucket and the coke cup.
