Moon in the 12th House, directed by Dorit Hakim, is a nice story
about two sisters in contemporary Israel. We see in the opening shot
that, years ago, they experienced a family trauma, and as a result, Mira, the
older sister, left home. Leni was left behind, living in their rural childhood
home with their father, who, now years later, can no longer care for
himself.
Now, Mira works at a
club in Tel Aviv and is in an abusive relationship with the club owner.
When she discovers that she is pregnant, and doesn’t want to have an abortion,
she goes home to her sister. It’s not easy for the two sisters to rebuild
their relationship (although this is not handled with enough depth), to
rekindle what they had as sisters, and to open up to each other.
Meanwhile, Leni is
having a fling with the 16-year-old boy next door on the moshav, and we see repeated
scenes of her swimming, obviously a metaphor for her seeking freedom from the
family commitments that bind her.
This is a family story
of reconciliation, as we discover what happened that tore apart the family
years ago. The title is a reference to Mira's
interest in horoscopes. I just wish the reconciliation had better tension
and script development.
No comments:
Post a Comment