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S E A R C H    D V D B e a v e r

(aka "Les mots justes" or "De douces paroles" or "Ha'milim ha'tovot")

 

directed by Shemi Zarhin
Israel/Canada 2015

 

A funny and heartwarming film about the continuing search for identity, family, and second chances. Just as her mother Yona (Levana Finkelstein, AVIVA, MY LOVE) goes into the hospital to have a watermelon-sized tumor removed, Dorona (Rotem Zissman-Cohen, GOD'S NEIGHBORS) - who has initiated a separation from her husband Ricky (Tsahi Halevi) after another miscarriage - is informed by her estranged father (Sasson Gabai, RAMBO III) that he has discovered in trying to have a child with his younger second wife (Magi Azarzar) that he has never been able to produce sperm, throwing into question the paternity of herself, her orthodox elder brother Netanel (Roy Assaf, WEDDING DOLL), and bisexual younger brother Shai (Assaf Ben-Shimon, WORLD WAR Z). When their mother dies before she can tell her side of the story, the three siblings seclude themselves in her home during the mourning period, puzzling out the situation and the implications (their mother had a lover, their father was in intelligence as a cook, did she have a relationship with a spy or an Arab?) When Shai discovers, thanks to their stingy father's obsessive record keeping of every expense he made or made for them, that each of them was born nine months after their mother's trips to Paris to visit their Aunt Rose (Florence Bloch, AVANIM), Shai books the three of them a trip to Paris (under the guise of a surprise birthday trip for Netanel for the benefit of his Orthodox wife who he fears would leave him if he proved to be a bastard or an Arab) to discover the identity of their father. Aunt Rose proves cagey about the facts, but their own estranged dad manages (if only to get them to drop the matter) to get her to admit that Yona had forbidden relationship when she was sixteen in Algeria. Their dad's interference, however, galvanizes them to track down this man, leading them to the home of an aging actress (Louise Portal, THE DECLINE OF THE AMERICAN EMPIRE) and to Marseille and a surreal nightclub dedicated to 1978 Eurovision song context winner Izhar Cohen (whose song "Ah-Bah-Nee-Bee" was their mother's favorite).

Eric Cotenas

Poster

Theatrical Release: 28 May 2015 (Israel)

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DVD Review: Strand Releasing - Region 1 - NTSC

Big thanks to Eric Cotenas for the Review!

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Distribution

Strand Releasing

Region 1 - NTSC

Runtime 1:58:20
Video

2.40:1 Original Aspect Ratio

16X9 enhanced
Average Bitrate: 8.29 mb/s
NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s

NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.

Bitrate

Audio Hebrew/French Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitles English, none
Features Release Information:
Studio: Strand Releasing

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen anamorphic - 2.40:1

Edition Details:
� Theatrical Trailer (16:9; 1:45)
� Previews

DVD Release Date: November 1st, 2016
Amaray

Chapters 8

 

 

 

Comments

Stand Releasing affords this two-hour film a typically high bitrate, and the progressive, anamorphic transfer looks great in standard definition. The Dolby Digital 5.1 track of this intimate film comes to life during transitional sequences where music dominates the soundtrack, although some source music does stray into the surrounds and the exteriors do have some sparse atmospheric appropriate to the settings. Optional English subtitles are free of errors (although they refer to the mother Yona as "Jonah"). The only extras are the film's trailer and preview.

  - Eric Cotenas

 


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DVD Box Cover

CLICK to order from:

 

 

Distribution

Strand Releasing

Region 1 - NTSC

 




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