Chris Knipp
05-24-2015, 11:50 AM
Eytan Fox: CUPCAKES (2013)
http://www.chrisknipp.com/links/puc.jpg
Eytan Fox retreats into an Israeli pastel musical bubble
Gay Israeli filmmaker Eytan Fox, whose Yossi ("http://www.chrisknipp.com/writing/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2282) was a feel-good but touching and real resolution for the protagonist of his earlier (and most exciting) film Yossi and Jagger, goes all the way over into the happy fantasy zone in Cupcakes, a bright-colored, retro musical about a motley group of ordinary folks who compete in an song contest. The Palestinian-Israeli conflict, homophobia, and other pressing issues troubled Fox's earlier films, such as The Bubble, about a gay Israeli who falls for an Arab guy and brings him to live in Tel Aviv. In the more recent film, many nations are symbolized by many-colored cupcakes baked by middle-aged Anat (Anat Waxman), who's just been abandoned by her husband. Anat and four other women, each held back or repressed in her own way, are pushed by Ofer (Ofer Schecter), an upbeat gay nursery school teacher, to perform a song, and show a smart-phone recording of it to the local judges for "Unisong," a televised international musical contest. Ofer alone is uninhibited. He even puts on song performances for his tiny pupils in sequined drag. He too has a hold-back, though, a handsome lover (Alon Levi) who's in a high visibility job and very much in the closet. But that finds a quick resolution.
The other contestants are neighbors, a randomly-assembled group. All have reasons for not wanting to be in this contest -- they only did the song to cheer up Anat. Most conspicuously different perhaps is Efrat (Efrat Dor), a stylish lesbian singer whose alternative style makes it hard for her to get gigs and who finds this song contest thing too trite. Dana (Dany Ivgy) works for a conservative woman politician only to please her Orthodox father, and the song event looks like dangerous exposure to her. Yael (Yael Bar-Zohar) is a lawyer and former beauty queen whose serious professional rep would be threatened by this gig. Anat, the abandoned wife-baker, just fears she's too old to do this. Sweet, bespectacled Keren (Keren Berger), is a blogger with a speech impediment, and though she meets her online mentor on a park bench and a romance buds, is too shy to venture outside cyberspace.
Despite impediments, the group is persuaded by lovers and friends to prepare for the contest, but the classic obstacle is that a national pro team takes over and threaten to make their performance too slick and professional and not "them." We are treated to a ridiculously awful overproduced version, and then the group has to reassert its original simplicity and charm, which involves finding financial sponsorship outside the usual sponsors. The contest, which is held in the country of last year's winner each time, is in Paris this year.
Perhaps the real star of the movie, whose pastel-colored look fills the eyes from frame one, is Awad Sawat's production design. Also essential are the cheesy 1970's classics like “Love Will Keep Us Together" and "You Light Up My Life." While Fox has managed everything up to here in polished, charming and confidently entertaining candy-colored style, the trip to Paris is a bit of a disappointment, there being so little use of local color one wonders at times if the movie team even spent much time in the City of Light. Russia wins the contest, but Israel comes in second. Everyone back home is thrilled, each individual member of the six-person group gets a delightful personal resolution of his or (mostly) her issues, and it ends happily for all. For fans of 70's-look, retro-style empowerment musicals in exotic languages, Cupcakes can be a pleasure. But one only wonders if Eytan Fox is retreating into a fantasy world and is no longer able to face in his films the harsh realities of Israeli life and the consequences of its policies. In Israel, the day-to-day pressures of reality can indeed be hard to bear.
Cupcakes, 92 mins., in Hebrew, was released 14 Feb. and 14 Mar. in Israel. Limited US theatrical relase 27 March 2015 (a NY Times "Critics Pick"), US DVD release by Strand Releasing 9 June 2015.
http://www.chrisknipp.com/links/puc.jpg
Eytan Fox retreats into an Israeli pastel musical bubble
Gay Israeli filmmaker Eytan Fox, whose Yossi ("http://www.chrisknipp.com/writing/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2282) was a feel-good but touching and real resolution for the protagonist of his earlier (and most exciting) film Yossi and Jagger, goes all the way over into the happy fantasy zone in Cupcakes, a bright-colored, retro musical about a motley group of ordinary folks who compete in an song contest. The Palestinian-Israeli conflict, homophobia, and other pressing issues troubled Fox's earlier films, such as The Bubble, about a gay Israeli who falls for an Arab guy and brings him to live in Tel Aviv. In the more recent film, many nations are symbolized by many-colored cupcakes baked by middle-aged Anat (Anat Waxman), who's just been abandoned by her husband. Anat and four other women, each held back or repressed in her own way, are pushed by Ofer (Ofer Schecter), an upbeat gay nursery school teacher, to perform a song, and show a smart-phone recording of it to the local judges for "Unisong," a televised international musical contest. Ofer alone is uninhibited. He even puts on song performances for his tiny pupils in sequined drag. He too has a hold-back, though, a handsome lover (Alon Levi) who's in a high visibility job and very much in the closet. But that finds a quick resolution.
The other contestants are neighbors, a randomly-assembled group. All have reasons for not wanting to be in this contest -- they only did the song to cheer up Anat. Most conspicuously different perhaps is Efrat (Efrat Dor), a stylish lesbian singer whose alternative style makes it hard for her to get gigs and who finds this song contest thing too trite. Dana (Dany Ivgy) works for a conservative woman politician only to please her Orthodox father, and the song event looks like dangerous exposure to her. Yael (Yael Bar-Zohar) is a lawyer and former beauty queen whose serious professional rep would be threatened by this gig. Anat, the abandoned wife-baker, just fears she's too old to do this. Sweet, bespectacled Keren (Keren Berger), is a blogger with a speech impediment, and though she meets her online mentor on a park bench and a romance buds, is too shy to venture outside cyberspace.
Despite impediments, the group is persuaded by lovers and friends to prepare for the contest, but the classic obstacle is that a national pro team takes over and threaten to make their performance too slick and professional and not "them." We are treated to a ridiculously awful overproduced version, and then the group has to reassert its original simplicity and charm, which involves finding financial sponsorship outside the usual sponsors. The contest, which is held in the country of last year's winner each time, is in Paris this year.
Perhaps the real star of the movie, whose pastel-colored look fills the eyes from frame one, is Awad Sawat's production design. Also essential are the cheesy 1970's classics like “Love Will Keep Us Together" and "You Light Up My Life." While Fox has managed everything up to here in polished, charming and confidently entertaining candy-colored style, the trip to Paris is a bit of a disappointment, there being so little use of local color one wonders at times if the movie team even spent much time in the City of Light. Russia wins the contest, but Israel comes in second. Everyone back home is thrilled, each individual member of the six-person group gets a delightful personal resolution of his or (mostly) her issues, and it ends happily for all. For fans of 70's-look, retro-style empowerment musicals in exotic languages, Cupcakes can be a pleasure. But one only wonders if Eytan Fox is retreating into a fantasy world and is no longer able to face in his films the harsh realities of Israeli life and the consequences of its policies. In Israel, the day-to-day pressures of reality can indeed be hard to bear.
Cupcakes, 92 mins., in Hebrew, was released 14 Feb. and 14 Mar. in Israel. Limited US theatrical relase 27 March 2015 (a NY Times "Critics Pick"), US DVD release by Strand Releasing 9 June 2015.