Film review

In 'Cuz You're Ugly,' Israeli director Sharon Angelhart tells the story she never saw on screen

Director/screenwriter Sharon Angelhart said that with her movie, she was trying to make a film that “was what I would have wanted to see when I was growing up in Jerusalem."

JULY 25, 2026|ByHANNAH BROWN

OR AVINOAM (left) and Riki Reif Sinai in ‘Cuz You’re Ugly.’

Sharon Angelhart's award-winning debut film 'Cuz You're Ugly' hits Israeli theaters

The story of the close, fraught relationship between the sisters and Avigail’s search for a better life brings to mind the phrase “falling through the cracks.”

JULY 22, 2026|ByHANNAH BROWN

ZENDAYA PLAYS the apparition of Athena who appears to Odysseus (Matt Damon) and gives him some aphoristic guidance.

Christopher Nolan's 'The Odyssey' is visually stunning but emotionally adrift - review

The feeling the film evokes is similar to Oppenheimer, Nolan’s last film, another portrait of a disillusioned hero who is haunted by how his work has bolstered military force and caused suffering.

JULY 15, 2026|ByHANNAH BROWN

CRISTIAN MUNGIU’S ‘Fjord’ won the Palme d’Or at Cannes this year.

Jerusalem Film Festival returns with Sundance hits, Cannes winners, and Israeli premieres

The 43rd edition of the festival, which was founded to bring the best international films to Israel and to promote Israeli filmmaking, will be at the Jerusalem Cinematheque and the Lev Smadar theater

JULY 4, 2026|ByHANNAH BROWN

The French Festival in Israel comes of age with diverse mix of films - review

This year's festival features a wide variety of films, mixing classics with contemporary films and star-studded casts.

MARCH 19, 2024ByHANNAH BROWN

‘The Other Widow’: A complex story of two women

It’s appropriate that the movie opened just in time for International Women’s Day, although of course Rypp never imagined it would be released during wartime.

MARCH 11, 2024ByHANNAH BROWN

A SCENE from ‘The Other Widow’ with Ania Bukstein (left) and Dana Ivgy.

Hipsters will love 'Robot Dreams' - review

Recreating the East Village of decades ago will be fun for adult viewers, but not for the vast majority of children, so ignore how appealing this movie looks on the poster and don’t bring your kids.

FEBRUARY 28, 2024ByHANNAH BROWN

New film 'Shoshana' tells a love story in the shadow of history - review

The movie uses a newsreel format to give the story historical context and to lay out the many different factions who fought each other during the pre-state years.

JANUARY 31, 2024ByHANNAH BROWN

MICHAEL WINTERBOTTOM’S ‘Shoshana.’ might have worked better as a mini-series than a movie, the writer opines.

'A Difficult Year': An easy-to-enjoy film hits Israel - review

Since we are now experiencing a truly difficult year, it’s nice to have a movie like this to help us get through it.

JANUARY 27, 2024ByHANNAH BROWN

The worst of times, the best of movies

Here are my 10 best international films this year (with one exception, these all played in movie theaters in Israel), followed by the 10 best Israeli movies.

DECEMBER 30, 2023ByHANNAH BROWN

‘Ferrari’ feels as if it’s stuck in second gear at times - film review

The movie reinvents no wheels. But it sure knows how to film ’em.

DECEMBER 26, 2023ByMICHAEL PHILLIPS

‘Rebel Moon’ fails to land its own mythology - film review

Netflix’s Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire,” attempts to create a ready-made Star Wars-like series with its own internal mythology and iconography.

DECEMBER 19, 2023ByMARK OLSEN