Inclubabu Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

Voxitype Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Dana An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Cristal The movie really just wants to entertain people.

hiskih The first time I tried to watch this film I closed the TV about halfway through because it was too static. This time I decided to stick with it to the end, even though my mind kept wandering all the time - it is simply too low-key and visually drab to keep the interest. Just one example: in the early scene where the heroine's sister collapses in the bathroom, we don't see her at all - the camera is stuck somewhere across the room and we are briefly shown alarmed characters outside the bathroom, then cut to the next scene. I wanted to scream: not this way! They should have shown what happens in the bathroom, with camera moving and close-ups of the actors.Those actors cannot be blamed, they all make you believe that they are the characters they play. Except maybe the leading actress, who is too beautiful for her role - they should have cast someone less glamorous, because she is too much in contrast with the dreariness of everything around her. The major merit of this film is the portrayal of a culture rarely shown in film, but as film-making it badly lacks energy.

gradyharp One reason to view FILL THE VOID, written and directed by Rama Burshtein, is the opportunity to view the clothing, the mannerisms, the singing (endless), and the other unique characteristics of Israel's ultra-Orthodox Hasidic community. For those who have never witness this spectrum of Judaism it is an eye-opening experience: religious law, tradition and the rabbi's word are absolute. Marriages are arranged and a woman's outside options are limited, as marriage is a central and crucial moment in their lives. Matches are arranged, decisions about whom to marry are critically important, but apparently the woman always has the right to turn down a prospective suitor. Of importance to note, Rama Burshtein comes form this community and her understanding of all the permutations is obvious.Shira (Hadas Yaron), a devout 18-year-old Israeli, has come of age and is considering marriage, having met her first serious suitor Yossi (Ido Samuel). Shira's eldest sister Esther (Renana Raz) suddenly dies in childbirth leaving her grieving husband Yochay (the very handsome and talented Yiftach Klein) with a son and no mother to care for the infant. Despite his grief (and the grief of Shira's parents - Irit Sheleg and Chayim Sharir) Yochay decides he must marry. Shira's other sister Frieda (Hila Feldman) declares that Esther had informed her that should anything happen to Esther, Frieda should marry Yochay. Shira's mother, afraid that Yochay will take the offer from a Belgium woman to marry and thus move away with her grandson from Tel Aviv, encourages Shira to marry Yochay. Shira is conflicted, gains support from her armless unmarried aunt Hanna (Razia Israeli) who knows that in this community a woman MUST be married, and after much discussion among the Rabbi (Melech Thal) and the family and Yochay and Shira, a conversation between the couple seals their fate.The acting is excellent, the cinematography often times seems flooded with light and slightly out of focus as if taken through layers of wedding veils (!), the costumes are amazing even they are the usual dress mode of this Hassidic community, and the attention to detail of such moments as Purim and Shabbat are immaculate. The seemingly endless amount of singing by the men does grow a bit wearisome and covers dialogue at times, but this is a fresh and fascinating view of love, traditions, and laws and the still viable personal choices in this colorful community. In Hebrew with English subtitles. Grady Harp

dtmentracte A new beautiful Israeli film currently playing, is called "Fill The Void" and in truth, that it does for both the characters and the audience. It is a moving depiction of how a close knit family deals with a tragedy, expressed in the context of the Israeli Chassidic framework. The family and especially the main character, 18 year old Shira, is completely content within the community, albeit with the limits and restrictions the tradition requires. There is no sense of rebellion, no indication of a desire to live outside this framework. Rather, Shira who is of marriageable age, shows her determination to find a mate who will give her the "real family", one where there are " no lies" as she tells a prospective match on their first (and only) encounter.Because Shira's older sister, Esther, who is 9 months pregnant, suddenly dies, the idea occurs to her mother that Shira would be the perfect new wife for the newly widowed Yochay. The movie explores, with great sensitivity, the many facets of this possibility.The characters, who are played to perfection, all have their own "voids" to fill and with her screenplay, scriptwriter/director, Rama Burshtein, guides them in finding each of their answers. There is the older single girl, and Shira's parents, there is the matchmaker, and the disabled maiden aunt. We meet the Rabbi who is the very approachable leader of his community and his various congregants who feel comfortable discussing their true feelings without being judged. We are given an insight into the beauty of their lifestyle as well as a glimpse of each one's particular challenges and how they deal with them.Both Shira and Yochay struggle with their personal confusions and challenges as they ultimately come to the decision that will shape the rest of their lives. Suffice it to say that each character's void is filled in a way that leaves the audience both moved and satisfied.

Nozz In this movie an eighteen-year-old girl, living in an Orthodox Jewish environment, has to make a fateful decision while surrounded with uncertainty-- not only about the consequences of her decision but also about the limits, both outside herself and within herself, on her freedom of action. The movie focuses prominently on her not only figuratively but literally. Her pale, round, expressive face fills the foreground again and again, against the background of brownish interiors and black-clothed men, and it's not a face the viewer gets tired of, nor does it turn her predictable. There are surprises in her behavior, and the audience accepts them. Not so with her male counterpart; when his emotional scene came, I'm sorry to report there were people in the audience who laughed. The movie hadn't made the necessary prior investment in sympathy for him. But to the extent that it belongs to Hadas Yaron as an actress and a photographic subject, it's well worth watching-- and it knows it is; it gives the audience plenty of time to appreciate each shot.