Past Life (film)

Past Life (Hebrew: החטאים) is a 2016 Israeli drama film written and directed by Avi Nesher and starring Nelly Tagar and Joy Rieger.[3][4] It is based on Baruch Milch's memoir Can Heaven Be Void?[5] The film is the first of Nesher's planned trilogy.[6]

Past Life
Theatrical release poster
Hebrewהחטאים
Directed byAvi Nesher
Produced byRuth Cats
Leon Edery
Moshe Edery
David M. Milch
Elad Naggar
Avi Nesher
David Silber
Screenplay byAvi Nesher
Based onCan Heaven Be Void?
by Baruch Milch
StarringNelly Tagar
Joy Rieger
Music byCyrille Aufort
Avner Dorman
Ella Milch-Sheriff
CinematographyMichel Abramowicz
Edited byIsaac Sehayek
Production
company
Metro Communications
Artomas Communications
Ars Veritas Productions
Sunshine Films
United King Films
Distributed byOrion Pictures[1]
Samuel Goldwyn Films[2]
Release date
  • September 12, 2016 (2016-09-12) (Toronto)
  • December 1, 2016 (2016-12-01)
Running time
109 minutes
CountryIsrael
LanguageHebrew
English

Plot

Two Israeli sisters, one a classical music composer and singer, and the other a budding journalist, try to find out what their father did during World War II in Poland, after a Polish woman runs up to one of them in a Berlin concert venue and calls her the daughter of a murderer.

Cast
  • Nelly Tagar as Nana Milch-Kotler
  • Joy Rieger as Sephi Milch
  • Doron Tavory as Baruch Milch
  • Evgenia Dodina as Lusia Milch
  • Tom Avni as Jeremy Kotler
  • Rafael Stachowiak as Thomas Zielinski
  • Katarzyna Gniewkowska as Agnieszka Zielinska

Reception

The film has a 79% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.[7] Glenn Kenny of RogerEbert.com awarded Past Life three stars.[8] Joseph Friar of The Victoria Advocate also gave Past Life three stars.[9] Peter Goldberg of Slant Magazine gave Past Life two and a half stars out of four.[10] Bruce Demara of the Toronto Star awarded the film three stars out of four.[11] Gayle MacDonald of The Globe and Mail gave the film two stars out of four.[12] Barbara VanDenburgh of The Arizona Republic awarded it two and a half stars out of five.[13] Mark Jenkins of The Washington Post gave it two stars out of four.[14]

Diane Carlson of KDHX praised the performances of Tagar and Rieger writing that they "present their characters' contrasting personalities beautifully, sparring like real sisters."[15] Hannah Brown of The Jerusalem Post also praised Tagar and Riger: "All the actors do extraordinary work, but the standouts are Rieger and Tagar in the lead roles."[16] Ben Kenigsberg of The New York Times wrote a positive review, describing the film as "a page-turner that transforms into a clarion call: always compelling, but slightly stifled by noble intentions."[17] Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times wrote a positive review: "Uneven but ultimately effective, convincing in mood and emotion despite its melodramatic plotting, Avi Nesher's Past Life is straight-ahead filmmaking heightened by a connection to a pervasive Israeli reality not often found on film."[18] Susan G. Cole of Now gave it a positive review and wrote "this is first-rate filmmaking, and the cast, especially Tagar, prickly yet tender, is very good."[19] Allan Hunter of Screen Daily gave the film a positive review and wrote "The initial set-up of Past Life feels clunky, but once we are back in Israel and the sisters reluctantly confront their dour, domineering father Baruch it settles into a more confident, convincing phase."[20] Alissa Simon of Variety also gave it a positive review, calling it "profoundly moving".[21]

gollark: Calculators... generally still seem to be a scam, though.
gollark: Anyway, at my school we mostly use(d) Casio FX-991EX calculators, which have lots of nice features.
gollark: <@!665664987578236961> You may have only asked styro once, but I read basically every new message on this discord server (I have a lot of free time and mostly just skim them) and I'm pretty sure you ask similar questions a lot. And it's mildly irritating.
gollark: The mildly-higher-res display lets it display square roots and fractions nicely.
gollark: Also, this model supports matrices and stuff.

References
  1. Hipes, Patrick (15 December 2016). "Israeli Thriller 'Past Life' Lands At Orion & Samuel Goldwyn". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  2. "'Past Life' Movie Review". WUPA. 20 June 2017. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  3. Picurro, Allison (7 April 2017). "'Past Life' Trailer: Two Sisters Crack Open a Wartime Mystery in Israeli Thriller — Watch". IndieWire. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  4. Jenkins, Mark (16 June 2017). ""Past Life": A family melodrama starting in 1970s West Berlin masquerades as murder mystery". The Denver Post. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  5. Dalton, Stephen (21 September 2016). "'Past Life': Film Review; TIFF 2016". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  6. Mann, Iris (30 May 2017). "Holocaust is passed down and always present in 'Past Life'". The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  7. "Past Life". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  8. Kenny, Glenn (2 June 2017). "Past Life". RogerEbert.com. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  9. Friar, Joseph (19 June 2017). "Review: PAST LIFE (2017) 'acclaimed Israeli director Avi Neshar explores the effects of the past on the present'". The Victoria Advocate. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  10. Goldberg, Peter (28 May 2017). "Past Life". Slant Magazine. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  11. Demara, Bruce (13 July 2017). "Reel Brief: Mini reviews of Past Life, The Little Hours and Mermaid doc". Toronto Star. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  12. MacDonald, Gayle (14 July 2017). "Review: Past Life is a tale of reconciliation marred by clichés". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  13. VanDenburgh, Barbara (22 June 2017). "Israeli Holocaust drama 'Past Life' fails to convince". The Arizona Republic. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  14. Jenkins, Mark (15 June 2017). "'Past Life': A family melodrama starting in 1970s West Berlin masquerades as murder mystery". The Washington Post. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  15. Carlson, Diane (8 June 2017). "'Past Life' reveals the shattering legacy of wartime tragedy". KDHX. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  16. Brown, Hannah (25 November 2016). "MOVIES: AVI NESHER'S 'PAST LIFE' IS A TRIUMPH". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  17. Kenigsberg, Ben (1 June 2017). "Review: In 'Past Life,' Family Mysteries and Cosmic Questions". The New York Times. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  18. Turan, Kenneth (1 June 2017). "Review In Avi Nesher's 'Past Life,' the bitter history of a Holocaust survivor is passed to his children". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  19. Cole, Susan G. (12 September 2016). "Past Life". Now. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  20. Hunter, Allan (12 September 2016). "'Past Life': Toronto Review". Screen Daily. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  21. Simon, Alissa (12 September 2016). "Festival Review: 'Past Life'". Variety. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
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