Foxtrot

Eine Szene, die wenige Sekunden dauert, und alles ergibt Sinn und wird gedanklich vertieft. Sowohl die Form als auch der Inhalt sind originell. Ein Nachdenken des Autors über das unsichere Schicksal und die Unausweichlichkeit, ihm jede Steuer abzubezahlen. Ein starker, schwierigerer Film mit Gefühl, welcher das traurige Drama durch absurd groteske Momente entspannt, so wie es das Leben selbst macht. (10.04.2018)

There are films that are pleasant to watch, relaxed, and likable, with which you spend two hours of your time only to forget about them the next day. And then there are those that are less accessible, watching them means undergoing a certain effort and struggling with them for a while, so that they resonate within you for a long time, forcing you to return and to reflect and compare. That's exactly what Foxtrot is like. It's not a film you sympathize with and that wins you over at first sight. Each of its three parts has a different character - and only the third part connects and justifies the existence of both previous parts. I had a problem with the intimate nature and slow pace of the first part, but the Kafkaesque absurd atmosphere with a blurred camera in the second third awakened me from lethargy, and I perceived the painful reconciliation with the reality of two aging partners, who are left only with memories, with maximum sensitivity. When a few days ago I wrote about Tehran Taboo that it was the highlight of Febiofest 2018 for me, I didn't know yet what kind of competition it would have in Foxtrot. Both films are unpleasant for the ruling regime and hit it in the most sensitive spot. But Foxtrot is more artistically sophisticated and demands more from the viewer. Both are politically engaged and provocative, but Foxtrot is more intimate. It has tremendous power in its ability to point out revealing details and to capture and highlight the characteristic rituals of the prevailing system. Despite all the depression it brings, Foxtrot shows how much better Israeli society is compared to Iran. The film didn't have to be created in exile, nor is it the result of dissident courage. It is part of the discussion in the public space and evokes controversy, which is never a bad thing. Overall impression: 95%. (04.04.2018)

Bizarrer Sarkasmus. Man möchte sagen, dass es ein Kriegsfilm ist, aber es geht überhaupt nicht um den Krieg. Auf jeden Fall muss ich zugeben, dass ich erst in der Mitte des Films darauf gekommen bin, von dem ganze militärischen Ironie nur so sprudelt, die mir gefallen hat, aber die familiäre Rahmung der Geschichte hat mich nicht so sehr interessiert - vor allem, wenn das zyklische Ende der Handlung dem Zuschauer vorher klar ist. Auf jeden Fall handelt es sich immer noch um eine sehr hochwertige Arbeit, bei der ich nichts weiter bemängeln kann, außer dass ich lieber mehr seltsame Abenteuer einer nihilistischen israelischen Einheit gesehen hätte, als diese hyperdramatische Geschichte einer traurigen Familie, die ein wenig auf die Tube gedrückt hat. (24.08.2020)

If I had to quietly acknowledge after the first act that the world's longest-built joke had just been played on me, then afterward I had to become hoarse with disappointment that it wasn't intended to be and was merely a sophisticated narrative play where the entire first passage is spot-on in its form. Can you grasp the potential, to go to the effort of creating a half-hour slow, clinical, painful, silent sequence, only to then knock it down in one swoop? Unfortunately, Foxtrot can't rise above itself, though it tries terribly hard to pretend it can. It's terribly clunky and painfully literal and futile towards the end, and we have to pointlessly watch in long, static shots dialogue like "You're like an excavator. And I'm like a tow truck." "I actually think you're the excavator. And I'm the truck." Ugh.... PS: for those who think the Romanian New Wave is a good idea, this will be a treat. (13.04.2018)

It is by no means an attractive film for the audience, but if you let yourself be absorbed by it, you will not be disappointed. The slow pace of the narrative, combined with the cleverly constructed story, may seem to lull your attention, but at unguarded moments Samuel Maoz hits the mark with such force that you will be reeling for a long time. I have perhaps never encountered a more intimate and urgent depiction of the absurdity of war. (85%) (20.05.2021)