Dani Menkin looks out at the world with his eyes wide open, he sees the foolish mistakes, the pettiness, the random hand of misfortune, and the ravages of human cruelty, but he also sees the absurd silliness, the sparks of joy, the ways that people can hold on to one another, help one another and smile.
Is That You? – Menkin’s second feature film, stars the wonderful actor Alon Aboutbul as Ronnie, a 60 year old film projectionist who has just been fired. At loose ends, with no real prospects for the future, it is only natural that Ronnie looks back to the past. He has a free ticket to the U.S. and decides to visit his brother, who moved there many years ago, and is now a used car salesman, having lost none of his Israeli brashness. Yet Ronnie is driven by a more romantic pursuit: he hopes to find Rachel, the lost love of his youth.
Menkin’s first feature, Je t’aime I Love You Terminal, featured singer Muki as a young man teetering on the edge between romance and commitment, looking towards the future and hoping to make the right decisions. For Ronnie (Alon Aboutboul), those decisions were made long ago, not always by his own choice. The lovely Rachel broke up with him and returned to the U.S. Although they didn’t keep in touch and he knows nothing of her life or whereabouts today, he is determined to go in search of that “road not taken.”
He’s accompanied on that journey by an unlikely partner, Myla (Naruna De-Macedo Kaplan), a young film student who is working on a documentary about regrets. There is a lovely chemistry between Ronnie’s soulful silences and expressive eyes and Myla’s quirky, prickly, enthusiasm. The structure of the film weaves together scenes from Myla’s documentary with its narrative, opening up the film from its close focus on an individual journey to a wider perspective on the human condition with vignettes that are poignant and funny in equal measure.
In this film Menkin brings together both worlds – fiction and documentary, reflecting his own film experience. His award winning film on Ami Ankilewitz, 39 Pounds of Love (2005), documents the everyday heroism of a man whose parents were told that he would not live past the age of six, and lived every day to the fullest – including a road trip with Menkin – before his death at the age of 34. Dolphin Boy (2011), co-directed with Yonatan Nir, tells the story of another contemporary hero: Morad, a young man who survived a savage beating and was helped to recovery through the love and support of his family, and therapeutic treatment with dolphins.
Is That You?
Directed by: Dani Menkin; Screenplay: Dani Menkin, Eshkol Nevo; Cinematography: Bruce Francis Cole; Editing: Dana Yardeni; Editing Consultant: Arik Lahav Lebovitch; Music: Issar Shulman; Cast: Alon Aboutboul, Naruna De-Macedo Kaplan, Rani Blair, Suzanne Sadler.
