Footnote

(In Hebrew with English subtitles)

'Footnote' is a curious film. Ostensibly whimsical it is mostly a drama about fathers and sons. The film features three generations but the focus is mainly on the older two. Father and son are both Professors but the older's claim to fame is that he was a footnote in another's academic work. Thirty years of ernest toil count for nought when another academic trumps his findings a month before publication. The younger son is being lauded in a way that the father craves for himself.

The film's humour is very dry indeed. The performances are strong, especially Shlomo Bar-Aba as the 'footnoted' Professor. Bar-Aba's silences are more eloquent than a hundred stirring monologues.