A DANCE TO THE MUSIC OF TIME: Movie Reviews of Coco and Foxtrot by Howard Casner

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Warning: SPOILERS

In writer/director Samuel Maoz’s often deeply affecting film Foxtrot, one can say that the title is truth in advertising. Like the basic steps of that dance, the movie is structured in four movements, with a fifth one returning to the beginning as the movements begin to repeat themselves.

The basic story revolves around an Israeli family who receives news that their soldier son died at a roadblock he was stationed at. The grief here is palpable and broad. And then they discover that there is more to come.

The first step is the viewpoint of someone driving a truck; the second the revelation of the son’s death; the third, a dramatization of the son’s life at his outpost; the fourth, another scene with the family; and then back to the truck that began the dance in the first place.

I can’t really fault the movie. It’s extremely well made. And it’s heartfelt and sincere and the hand of the writer/director can be seen throughout as each segment is approached in a different style. Read the rest of this entry »