Footnote
Eliezer and Uriel Shkolnik are father and son as well as rival professors in Talmudic Studies. When both men learn that Eliezer will be lauded for his work, their complicated relationship reaches a new peak.
Director:
Joseph Cedar
Cast:
Shlomo Bar-Aba, Lior Ashkenazi, Aliza Rosen
Screenplay:
Joseph Cedar
Screening Date:
Feb 11, 2012
| Excellent | Very Good | Good | Fair | Poor |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 42.4% | 12.1% | 30.3% | 15.2% | 0.0% |
“Two films that displayed the interpersonal conflicts of family dynamics are WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN and FOOTNOTE. I felt almost embarrassed that I was witnessing the crumbled and hurtful relationships that were generational!”
“Hate being left hanging. Lots of holes in this but a way better film than the favorite to get the Oscar for Foreign Film A SEPARATION.”
“A gem. So many layers of intense interest. Who would have thought that professors could be so pedantic and so dramatic at the same time? Great acting.”
“Easily the best film of the semester, the best film of the year, and that includes THE ARTIST. The discussion of whether this is a comedy or not means it achieves it’s own genre, where the absurdity of the comedic, cramped conference room counterpoints the talmudic studies on the nature of God and man and life itself. Wow.”
“Caused strong emotional reaction: family dynamics history repeats itself within a family. Well done. I had a strong emotional reaction.”
“Best part was the music!”
“I hated the music. It was too loud and annoying.”
“Books as a fortress and as a symbol of prestige. My ex-husband buried himself in books and his father used them as a symbol of his intellect…and they had no relationship with each other.”
“Spellbinding! So much for the idyllic groves of academe.”
“Fascinating relationship between the father and son. Feared mixed with respect, awe and later loathing. Wonderful scene juxtaposing the journalist and Eliezer and Uriel writing the tenets for the prize. The film takes on a Talmudic feel to it, back and forth constantly reassessing and rethinking every moment. Almost like a series of Russian dolls inside one another, all the rooms within rooms, libraries within libraries, smaller and more filled with books and papers unpopulated except for the isolated scholar (both father and son) alienating and womblike/protecting.”
“A tightly wound story of moral dilemmas. There were a lot of emotional disconnect between father and son, husband and wife and son.”
“Gripping in parts. Wonderful photography and acting and editing.”
“Great story of the age-old father and son conflict. I did feel that Grossman knew the father would figure out the son wrote the award justification.”
“Here’s a film that shows that a movie can ask serious, profound questions about family, religion, responsibilty and honor, without the absurd, self-indulgent images of a distancing, alienating film such as TREE OF LIFE.”
“Having lived in Israel and attended the Hebrew University I was fascinated with the treatment of the academic subject.”
“Women are not treated well here, and the film is perhaps an indictment of a still rigid male dominated tradition.”
