The film deals with Thomas's incestuous love for his sister, Mariana: After they arrive together in Tel Aviv-Yafo, after escaping from Migdal HaEmek due to the death of their Christian mother, Ewa, and setting up housekeeping in the sleazy side of town, Thomas makes his money as "kept man" for two different women who are nightclub entertainers at a bar filled with homosexual, deformed, and inebriated workers, Luna and Zara a.k.a. Sarah Azulay. He first attempts to work at a hotel, but he is fired upon being caught stealing supplies for Mariana. He then has to resort to a dirty shelter. At the same time, he attracts the attentions of an amorous transvestite prostitute and stripper (“Ada Valerie-Tal” i.e. Sergiu Valerie) named "Apolonia Goldstein" (a character based on Gila Goldstein who performed in a real-life bar called Bar 51) who allows the siblings to live at his apartment. His unnatural love for his sister goes unexpressed, however, his jealousy cannot be controlled. If his sister wants to lead any sort of a normal life, it will be up to her to break her dependence on her brother and move on. The film, developed at Herzliya Studios and distributed by Shapira Films [he], stars inter aliaAlon Abutbul, Mosko Alkalai,[7]Poly Reshef [he], and David Wilson and features music by Arik Rudich and Shimrit Or [he] (in addition to a song performed by Sarah'le Sharon and written by Dudu Barak and Yeshayahu (Shaike) Paikov [he]), cinematography by Yossi Wein [de],[8] editing by Tova Ascher,[9] and production by Enrique Rottenberg and Efrat Stieglitz [he].[10] The film ends with Thomas violently raping Mariana, following by her killing him.[11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27]
Journalist Yael Israel [he] favorably compared this film to the works of Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Martin Scorsese,[28] journalist Nachman Ingber [he] blasted the film for its lack of "style" though he nonetheless called it one of the great Israeli films of the 1980s,[29] while journalist Daniel Warth also noted the similarities to Fassbinder and Pier Paolo Pasolini, yet claimed that these remained on the surface only, as this film lacked a "message".[30] Nevertheless, more recently, it came out as the 30th best Israeli film out of 40 listed in a poll of critics conducted by Maariv,[31] and also received two votes (Marat Parkhomovsky and Yael Shuv [he]) in a similar 2018 survey of critics.[32] The film, whose budget was said to be the equivalent of $400,000, was awarded several prizes by the Israeli Ministry of Economy[33] and was screened at Chicago International Film Festival, despite being a commercial failure with only 32,000 tickets sold.[34] The film was released on DVD in Israel by Third Ear DVDs [he] as part of a boxset containing the complete filmography of Guttman[35] and an equivalent boxset was released in France by Bach Films [fr].[36] Several nowadays notable Israeli film people, such as Rona Doron [he], Levia Hon [he], and Yoni Hamenachem [he], started out as crew bit parts on this film and it is said to be a big influence on Sivan Levy, who covered some of its music (such as the 1937 song "My Funny Valentine" by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart).[37] A main character in Guttman's 1992 film Amazing Grace is also called Thomas, probably as homage to this film.[38] A restaurant named after this film has opened in Tel Aviv-Yafo in 2019.[39]
References
^Leskali, Hezi (20 June 1986). האשה של אזור הדמדומים [Twilight Zone Woman (Part I)] (PDF). Ha'ir (in Hebrew). Tel Aviv-Yafo: Schocken Group. p. 32. Archived from the original(PDF) on 10 August 2021. Retrieved 23 August 2021. Leskali, Hezi (20 June 1986). האשה של אזור הדמדומים [Twilight Zone Woman (Part II)] (PDF). Ha'ir (in Hebrew). Tel Aviv-Yafo: Schocken Group. p. 33. Archived from the original(PDF) on 10 August 2021. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
^Almog, Oz (2004). פרידה משרוליק: שינוי ערכים באליטה הישראלית [Farewell to "Srulik:" Changing Values Among the Israeli Elite] (in Hebrew). Vol. II. Haifa and Or Yehuda: Haifa University Press and Kinneret Zmora-Bitan Dvir. p. 1164. ISBN9789653110519. OCLC56795640.
^Schnitzer, Meir (October 1987). איפה אל״ף? איפה בי״ת? [No ABCs] (PDF). Hadashot (in Hebrew). Tel Aviv-Yafo. p. 23. Archived from the original(PDF) on 1 June 2020. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
^Parkhomovsky, Marat (8 October 2007). מוסקו אלקלעי [Mosko Alkalai]. Israeli Cinema Testimonial Database (in Hebrew). Israel Film Council. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
^Shamgar, Irit (12 June 1986). לא עליז [Not Gay (Part I)]. Maariv (in Hebrew). p. 19. Retrieved 23 August 2021. Shamgar, Irit (12 June 1986). לא עליז [Not Gay (Part II)]. Maariv (in Hebrew). p. 28. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
^Kozer, Ran (1997). עמוס גוטמן: במאי קולנוע [Amos Guttman: Filmmaker] (in Hebrew). San Francisco, California, Tel Aviv-Yafo, and Herzliya: Frameline Film Festival, Keren Makor, Stardust–Dagan Price, and Noga Communications. Retrieved 20 March 2018 – via YouTube.
^Kozer, Ran (1997). מדברים על סרטים: בר 51 (1986) [Speaking About Films: Bar 51 (1986)] (in Hebrew). San Francisco, California, Tel Aviv-Yafo, and Herzliya: Frameline Film Festival, Keren Makor, Stardust–Dagan Price, and Noga Communications. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
^Bursztyn, Igal (May 2009). מבטי קרבה: מחשבות על סרטים [Intimate Gazes: Thoughts About Films] (in Hebrew). Jerusalem and Haifa: Hebrew University Magnes Press and Haifa University Press. pp. 326, 381–387, 424. ISBN9789654934053. OCLC441833277.
^Bursztyn, Igal (1990). פנים כשדה־קרב: ההיסטוריה הקולנועית של הפנים הישראליים [The Face as Battlefield: The Cinematic History of Israeli Faces] (in Hebrew). Tel Aviv-Yafo: Hakibbutz Hameuchad–Sifriat Poalim Publishing Group. pp. 165, 182–184, 199–200. OCLC233061363. Archived from the original on 20 April 2018. Retrieved 19 April 2018.
^Schnitzer, Meir (1994). הקולנוע הישראלי: כל העובדות, כל העלילות, כל הבמאים וגם ביקורות [Israeli Cinema: All Facts, All Plots, All Directors, and All Critiques] (in Hebrew). Or Yehuda and Jerusalem: Kinneret Zmora-Bitan Dvir, Israel Film Archive, and Israel Film Institute. pp. 278–279, 376. ISBN9789652863782. OCLC31817606.
^Yosef, Prof. Dr. Raz. הפוליטיקה של הנורמלי: מין ואומה בקולנוע הומוסקסואלי ישראלי [The Politics of the Normal: Sex and Nation in Gay Israeli Cinema]. In: Theory and Criticism: An Israeli Forum [he], Jerusalem and Tel Aviv-Yafo: Van Leer Jerusalem Institute and Hakibbutz Hameuchad–Sifriat Poalim Publishing Group, Volume 30, Spring 2007, pp. 159–187 (in Hebrew), reprinted in: Gross, Aeyal M.; Ziv, Amalia; Yosef, Raz, eds. (2016). סקס אחר: מבחר מאמרים בלימודים להט״ביים וקוויריים ישראליים [Another Sex: Selected Essays in Israeli Queer and LGBT Studies]. Fetish: Original Series of Cultural Critique (in Hebrew). Tel Aviv-Yafo: Resling. pp. 93–126. OCLC952528353.
^Gross, Natan (1991). הסרט העברי – פרקים בתולדות הראינוע והקולנוע בישראל: 1896–1991 [The Hebrew Film – Chapters in the Annals of Silent and Sound Cinema in Israel: 1896–1991] (in Hebrew). Jerusalem: Natan and Yaacov Gross. pp. 318, 376. OCLC27221790.
^Israel, Yael (3 July 1986). עכברי לילה [Mice of the Night] (PDF). Al HaMishmar (in Hebrew). Tel Aviv-Yafo. Archived from the original(PDF) on 10 August 2021. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
^Ingber, Nachman (10 July 1986). בר 51, אילו כולו היה כזה [Bar 51, If Only Thou Hast Been Completely Like That] (PDF). Yedioth Ahronoth (in Hebrew). Rishon LeZion. Archived from the original(PDF) on 10 August 2021. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
^Warth, Daniel (11 March 1986). דקדנס מעוצב [Stylized Decadence] (PDF). Ha'ir (in Hebrew). Tel Aviv-Yafo. Archived from the original(PDF) on 10 August 2021. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
^Parkhomovsky, Marat (1 March 2018). אחרי 70 שנה: משאל מבקרים [After 70 Years: A Survey of Critics]. Cinematheque Magazine (in Hebrew). Vol. 209. pp. 4–9.
^Guttman, Amos (1 June 2007). עמוס גוטמן: האוסף המלא [Amos Guttman: Complete Filmography] (DVD) (in Hebrew). Tel Aviv-Yafo: Third Ear DVDs. OCLC885305029. Reported in: Merav Yudilovitch [he]. Yudilovitch, Merav (10 June 2007). סיפור חייו בקופסא [His Life Story in a Boxset]. Ynet (in Hebrew). Rishon LeZion. Retrieved 23 August 2021. Weizmann, Daniel (1 November 2012). דיוידנדים: עמוס גוטמן – מהארון אל המדף [Dividends: Amos Guttman – From the Closet to the Shelf]. Ynet (in Hebrew). Rishon LeZion. Retrieved 23 August 2021. Shoval, Tom (3 July 2007). חסד של אמת [A Truthful Grace]. HaIr Tel Aviv (in Hebrew). Retrieved 23 August 2021. Dan Lachman [he]. Lachman, Dan (9 February 2007). עמוס גוטמן – מארז אסופת סרטיו [Amos Guttman – A Boxset of His Collected Films]. E-Mago (in Hebrew). Retrieved 23 August 2021. Reprinted as: Lachman, Dan (16 July 2007). רק על עצמו לספר ידע [He Only Knew How to Talk About Himself]. GoGay (in Hebrew). Archived from the original on 26 February 2021. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
^Guttman, Amos (21 March 2014). Amos Guttman: L'intégrale [Amos Guttman: Complete Filmography] (DVD) (in French and Hebrew). Paris: Bach Films. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
^צפו: סיון לוי חוזרת לבר של עמוס גוטמן [Watch: Sivan Levy Returns to Amos Guttman's Bar]. Ynet (in Hebrew). Rishon LeZion. 5 June 2014. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
^Kozer, Ran (1997). מדברים על סרטים: חסד מופלא (1992) [Speaking About Films: Amazing Grace (1992)] (in Hebrew). San Francisco, California, Tel Aviv-Yafo, and Herzliya: Frameline Film Festival, Keren Makor, Stardust–Dagan Price, and Noga Communications. Retrieved 23 August 2021. הסרט הדיברות: פרויקט הסרטים הישראלים הגדול [The Cinematic Ten Commandments: Greatest Israeli Films Project]. Maariv (in Hebrew). Tel Aviv-Yafo. 12 April 2013. Retrieved 23 August 2021.
^Goldstein, Rita (28 March 2019). בר 51: האנשים של מונא מגיעים לתל אביב [Bar 51: Mona's People Arrive in Tel Aviv]. Mako. Tel Aviv-Yafo. Retrieved 23 August 2021. Kashmin, Roni (30 March 2019). בר 51: המקום התל אביבי של קבוצת ״מונא״ הירושלמית [Bar 51: The Jerusalemite "Mona" Group's Tel Avivian Place]. Haaretz (in Hebrew). Tel Aviv-Yafo. Retrieved 23 August 2021. Sahar, Reut (1 April 2019). בר 51: המקום הכי לוהט בעיר [Bar 51: The Hottest Place in Town]. Walla! News (in Hebrew). Tel Aviv-Yafo and Petah Tikva. Retrieved 23 August 2021. Barnea, Reut (1 April 2019). חדשות האוכל: בר 51 קם לתחייה [Food News: Bar 51 Is Resurrected]. Calcalist (in Hebrew). Rishon LeZion. Retrieved 23 August 2021. שף מושיקו גמליאלי: ״בר 51 הוא מקום שמותר לי בו הכל״ [Chef Moshiko Gamlieli: "Bar 51 Is a Place in Which I Am Allowed Anything"]. Al HaShulchan (in Hebrew). Tel Aviv-Yafo: Yuval Sigler Communication Ltd. 1 April 2019. Retrieved 23 August 2021.