Slow Down

Adam is trying to fix his marriage but both his wife Asia and teenage daughter Dafi are too busy with their lovers.

Fifty years after Slow Down by Avraham Heffner won a prize at Venice Film Festival, top alumni of the Jerusalem Sam Spiegel Film School challenge the 1968 legendary black and white

The title is a reference to the Book of Isaiah 42:6, “I, the LORD, have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee free, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles.” The film is an episodic, cinematic biography of David Ben-Gurion, from his days as a youth in Poland when he met Herzl in the town of Plonsk, through his move to Palestine/Israel, becoming leader, the days of the Independence War and the establishing of the State of Israel, signing the reparations agreement with Germany, and all the way to the making of this film – in the aftermath of the Six-Day War. Perlov’s film highlights all the key milestones in the leader’s life which it goes about doing in the tradition of the reflexive documentary, through the creator’s subjective and artistic pov. The film goes back and forth between documentary and scripted scenes, black and white and technicolour, and even archival footage colourised in bold, artificial colours.

Shalom is a young man from a nice, middle-class Tel Aviv family. His parents are keen for him go to university, but all of that doesn’t really factor in with his plans. Shalom drives a rickety, old estate car; he has two women in his life, keeping his companionship and romantic needs met; and spends his time on the road, soul-searching. He chances upon a group of artists and intellectuals (including Amos Keenan and Uri Avnery) who have been arguing about Israel’s socio-political future, discussing war and peace; settlements and land; the rich and the poor, and so on. The only thing everyone seems to be in agreement on is that the future is looking bleak. Shalom then decides to immigrate and head to the US – a decision that takes him nowhere, fast.

It articulates the essence of one's internal exile through the portrait of a Jewish-German refugee who arrived in Israel on the eve of World War II, started a family – but has nevertheless, yet to feel at home in his new country. He remains connected to Berlin with every fiber of his being; the city’s culture, its essence, and as far as he’s concerned, Israel is no more than a pit stop. He gradually pulls away from his wife, his son who does not get him, his sisters who are haunted by the past, and the rental flat where he’s lived all these years. He sets up shop in a budget hotel by the Tel Aviv seaside, hangs out with a group of fringe misfits, and dreams of moving back to Berlin.

This action drama centers on a former CIA operative who grudgingly rejoins the spy game due to the machinations of his one-time student - a screw up who goes to work for the Soviets. As his job drags him deeper into a dangerous and under-handed world, the student wants out of the agency and oout of the U.S.S.R. But the man's choices have made him a target and now both the United States and Russia want him dead, sending their mos able hit men to do it.