With so much acclaimed product coming out of Israel these days (films, international reboots, streaming series), the attention slathered on this derivative piece of comically off-kilter torture porn is unwarranted. Saddled with generic verbal riffs of goofball menace a la the Coen Brothers, Sam Shepard-like domestic anarchy, even glances toward the squabbling familial inter-connectivity of Harold Pinter; all useless trimming on a purposefully grotesque tale of a purported serial child murderer captured by a rogue cop and a revenge-minded parent, then held in the soundproofed basement of an isolated house to ‘get’ as he ‘gave’ till he gives up the location of his victim’s head. But is he the right guy? Loaded with gripping bits of bodily harm (more unpleasant than suspenseful) ‘hilariously’ interrupted by buzzing kitchen timers, unwelcome knocks at the door, melodious smart phones with messages from Mom, and an uninvited neighbor. (NOTE: the film’s best scene brings back this horse-riding Arab neighbor, encountering a fleeing prisoner from the torture house; a brief haunting absurdity built on just the sort of original voice missing elsewhere.) Writer/directors Aharon Keshales & Navot Papushado with but one release between them since this won heaps of awards. Just desserts.
SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Amusingly, after a brief prologue, the film opens like a French policier, with what appears to be a cast of cops made entirely of Israeli Gerard Depardieus (Depardieux?), each at a different stage of his career, from trim youthful thug to current obese grotesque. Alas, this unintentional idea soon dropped.
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