Kadosh
It is possible for a film to be too thoughtful, too contemplative for its own good. And we're not just talking about the existential dramas of filmmaker Ingmar Bergman but also a well-intentioned movie like "Kadosh."While Bergman's films — an acquired taste for many, admittedly — use odd pacing to their advantage, this 1999 Israeli drama unfolds at an even more snail-like pace, almost to the point of becoming dull.
Fortunately for co-writer/director Amos Gitai, he's dealing with subject matter — the treatment of women in orthodox religion, as well as marital relations — that's just fascinating enough to overcome that.
With the film, Gitai completes a dramatic trilogy he began with 1995's "Devarim." This movie follows two sisters, Rivka (Yael Abecassis) and Malka (Meital Barda), living in Jerusalem's ultra-orthodox Jewish community of Mea Shearim.
For the past 10 years, Rivka has been happily married to Talmudic scholar Meir (Yoram Hattab). However, the two have been unable to conceive a child, which not only frustrates them, but also Meir's father (Yussef Abu Warda), the local rabbi.
Meanwhile, the younger and more rebellious Malka has been carrying on a relationship with Yaakov (Sami Hori). The iconoclastic Yaakov has been shunned by the community, so the rabbi arranges for Malka to marry Yossef (Uri Ran Klausner), his faithful helper, instead.
Again, though this material would seem to lend itself to an interesting, if not necessarily compelling film, Gitai allows several scenes to go on too long (there are also a couple of go-nowhere sequences that add nothing whatsoever to the story).
Also, his screenplay also falls prey to the stereotypical Hollywood-style treatment of religion as fanaticism, and is particularly unsympathetic toward the male characters, none of whom are developed well enough.
However, it is also very well-photographed (by Renato Berta, of "Au Revoir Les Enfants" fame), with long, lingering shots that hold interest even when what's going on does not.
To his credit, Gitai has also gotten very good performances from his cast, especially the spellbinding Abecassis and newcomer Barda. With their presence, the film could have been about only one of their characters and still been at least slightly compelling.
"Kadosh" is not rated but would probably receive an R for sex (a fairly graphic sex scenes and some sexual contact), vulgarity (frank sexual discussions and some crudity) and brief violence (a lashing, largely overheard). Running time: 110 minutes.
E-mail: jeff@desnews.com