Reviews

This is a depiction of an all-American obsession: going back to a self-dependent wild lifestyle. Non-American have hard time relating to this but will clearly spot the selfish and short-sighted nature of the main character. Quickly it mostly gets annoying more than thrilling.

Cinematographically, the filming is as cliché as the story. Filming long silent scenes does not make you the cinematographic equivalent to Kerouac. Sorry Sean.

When you find out at the end that this is a true story it is even more upsetting. It is like you feel compelled to feel bad for the guy and lose the privilege of just seeing the character as simply selfish and immature. Viewing this movie is a pain and you hope not seeing it again

Eytan Fox did it again : move the viewer's heart in a modest story taking place in an overwhelming mess. The movie also succeeds in describing so perfectly and subtly the atmosphere of the incredible city that is Tel Aviv.

I was there a month ago and it is all there : the lifestyle, the relationships, the heart-beating city, the mess, the chock of utopian mindsets in the most light-hearted, blithe and oblivious megalopolis ever.

Strongly recommend: it is a voyage for the heart and the mind, with an interesting perspective to the Israelo-Palestinian conflict.

Nota Bene: There is central gay plot in the movie. If you do not think you are too gay-friendly, be prepared to be challenged and finally see it as "just love". (and don't worry: the chick is hot too!)

Beautiful story, touching characters, great newcomer actors and above all...

...I have never seen any movie with a more organic scenario. All dialogs, behaviors, reactions, personal incoherences, etc just sound perfectly real-life-like.

I would recommend it to any screen writing student as the sort of excellence to target.

The story is not amazing but thanks to all this, you are totally into the movie and escape the potential "cheesiness" of the topic.

Sublime

Poor acting (too flat, no emotion...), uselessly over-stylized cinematography (hence annoying), over-explicit picturing of concepts, weak story because too ambitious but with too few substance or at least not fitted to a screen. As I just read, this picture lacks motion. I am afraid this story was just too ambitious for Ron Howard and picking up top actors does not make it work any better when he does not leave them from freedom to "act".

Not the worst movie of the year but definitely not the excitement I was expecting (when I went to see it on its first night)... The magic is just not there.