Avi Nesher, Director and co-Screenwriter, The Wonders (Plaot).
Festival Section: Official Selection: International.
Israeli filmmaker Avi Nesher talks about his latest with THE WONDERS (Plaot), which was shown at the Jameson International Film Festival 2014.
Lewis Carroll meets Carol Reed in this dizzyingly funny and fantastical farce from Israeli director Avi Nesher, about a good-natured slacker who becomes embroiled in a labyrinthine conspiracy.
Anything can happen in Jerusalem. Just ask Ariel Navon (Ori Hizkiah), a bartender, art-school dropout and compulsive cartoonist whose pleasantly mundane existence is turned upside down late one night after he spots a strange flash of blue light emanating from an apparently vacant building. His investigation yields an encounter with famed modern-day prophet Rabbi Knafo (Yehuda Levi). Is Knafo being held against his will? And who would do such a thing?
Veteran director Avi Nesher’s latest is a hoot. There are red herrings, unlikely alliances, and cartoons that come to life when no one is looking. The Wonders shows a kinship with the films of the Coen brothers and Woody Allen and the novels of Michael Chabon. Both Hizkiah and Miller are stand-up comics with impeccable timing, and they fully commit to creating complex, compelling characters with much at stake.
Reporter: Matt Micucci.