Sunday, May 7, 2023

Woman Alive (2021) Cinejoy 2021

This is one of several reviews I've been sitting on for several year because  I was asked to hold the review until the film was picked up for the impending release. I was told I would be informed when the releases happened. 

I'm still waiting a couple of  years on.(several are from the 2020 and 2021 covid days)

Because I am trying to clean out my draft folders I've made the executive decision to start posting the reviews because I am tired of looking at the pieces and because no one is getting back to me about the status (several have been released but because PR people shifted, or titles changed I was never told)

A wife and mother leaves her husband and daughter in Jerusalem and then begins to wander through the slums of the city on a journey of self discovery.

This is an art house film that is a mixed bag. While the performances are good the film never really generates much feeling for it being in any sort of reality. 

Blame the fact that everything looks perfect at all times. Shlomit, the woman at the center of the story never seems to get dirty despite sleeping on the street, or sleeping with her face pressed into the painting she had just completed. Her clothes are impeccable no matter hat she is doing. As a result she never feels part of the action but rather she feels as though she has been pushed into the scene to interact with the people on screen.  We can feel the camera crew just out of frame instead of feeling as though we are looking at real life.

Its a shame because the film had the film had tried to connect to reality just a bit more the various sequences, which are very well written and possessing some wisdom about following your own path might have hit home with more force. As it is this is an okay film that has some good things to day but which tries a bit too hard to get them across.

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