Award-winning Israeli director talks about new film about love and tragedy

“America,” Ophir Raul Graizer’s second film, has to meet high standards.

His previous film, 2017’s The Caretaker, won seven Ophir Awards, Israel’s version of the Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director for Graizer, and was nominated by Israel for the Academy Awards. But the film, about the affair between German Thomas and Israeli Oren, was produced on a shoestring budget and became a surprise hit. “Even today I get messages from people all over the world about how it affected them. It exploded and almost became a cult film.”

Graizer said many people gave him advice about what subject matter to tackle in his second film. He felt the pressure, he said, but then COVID came along and people had other things to worry about, so he was able to work in peace. “America” ​​is a strikingly moving story of love, loyalty and friendship that makes you think about the fragility of life and the beauty of finding a romantic partner you’re meant to be with.

Eli Greenberg (Michael Moshonov) is an Israeli swimming coach living in Chicago. He returns to Israel to deal with the death of his father. There he meets an old friend and swimming partner, Yotam (Ofri Biterman), and his beautiful Ethiopian fiancée, florist Iris (Oshrat Ingadashet). The three begin spending time together, but Yotam has a terrible accident that leaves him in a coma.

Over time, an attraction develops between Iris and Eli. Will they give in to their passion?

Ingadashet delivers a stirring performance that is subtle but hits at just the right moment. It’s no surprise that she won Best Actress at the Jerusalem Film Festival.

Graizer said he changed the script because of the actress’s talent.

“We looked at about 35 or 40 great people for the role,” he said. “Originally, she wasn’t written as an Ethiopian character, she was written as an Ashkenazi character. But when I saw her, I fell madly in love with her energy, her personality and her connection to the script. We recreated the character and I think that gave the film a different dimension.”

The film becomes more complex as Yotam’s condition – thought to be in a permanent vegetative state – begins to improve. Graizer builds tension through a series of plot twists; the characters are infused with deft touches and visual metaphors. You learn the discipline needed to understand which flowers go together to make a proper bouquet and which will ruin it. Eli must earn the trust of his students; they must know that he will not allow them to drown.

Moshonov is excellent in his role as a man haunted by a traumatic event from his past. He wants to put the past behind him and build a good life for himself in the present, while also working through a moral dilemma. Moshonov balances the complexity of his character extremely well as a man whose wildness burns behind a facade of calm.

Why is the film called “America” when most of it takes place in Israel?

“Of course there is the American dream,” Graizer said. “But the word alone can represent anyone anywhere who dreams of a better life or of going to a better place or of reinventing themselves in some other way. Of course it’s open to interpretation, but there is the idea of ​​what we want to have, not just in the form of objects, but in the form of happiness. We can look out to a horizon and want to escape from a difficulty or be in a better place.”

Given the political unrest in Israel and America, there may be people who look at the question of loyalty raised in the film, which was completed two years ago, and find political messages in it. Are these interpretations valid? Graizer declined to comment on political issues, but admitted that the film’s main lesson is that things we think are permanent are often fleeting.

“Sometimes life catches us off guard and everything shifts and changes.”