‘Ajami’: Maybe At A Theater Near You
Where to see Israel’s Oscar nominee
February 11, 2010
Need weekend plans? You may want to try to check out Ajami, the Israeli film in the running for Best Foreign Film Oscar. At least, that is, if you live in or near New York City; Montclair, New Jersey; Providence, Rhode Island; Boulder, Colorado; or Portland, Oregon. The film opens in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Washington, D.C., next weekend, and in the following weeks will be showing on screens in Boston, Philadelphia, and elsewhere.
In the New York Times, critic A.O. Scott praised the film: “There is no finger-pointing here, and no group hugging either. Instead there is a sharp sense of just how deep and wide the schisms are, not just between Jews and Arabs but also between Christians and Muslims, rich and poor, farmers and city dwellers, men and women, young and old and so on.”
And Tablet Magazine’s Liel Leibovitz called Ajami “bustling, messy, kinetic, and loud.” He added: “There’s always something going on, and always someone at hand to threaten or amuse you, to offer you a strong cup of coffee or a blow to the face.”
Family Matters [Tablet Magazine]
An Israeli Tale of Communal Mistrust, Without the Finger-Pointing [NYT]
Marc Tracy is a staff writer at The New Republic, and was previously a staff writer at Tablet. He tweets @marcatracy.
