El repostero de Berlín

This first feature from Israeli director Ofir Raul Graizer has been picking up prizes around the world. It's easy to see why. The story of a young German pastry chef who makes a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and inveigles his way into the life of his male lover's widow without revealing his identity is beautifully told and although tragic ultimately satisfying. At the London Film Festival, where the film was nominated for the Sutherland prize, Graizer revealed that he developed the story from one he'd heard. Each scene is simply but expertly shot and the overall effect is profoundly moving. The Israeli cast, particularly Sarah Adler as the widow, is as good as we've come to expect from this country's actors; but Tim Kalkhof as the boy - quiet melancholy masking a huge depth of emotion - is superb. An award for this role must be on the cards.The couple's sex scene in a kitchen, covered in only two takes, is electrifying. Along the way Graizer also deals with the mysteries of kosher rituals, while the food preparation becomes almost hypnotic. One expects the impossible situation that develops to be unresolvable and for the film to stop abruptly. But there is a suggestion of a happy ending. The characters are so well drawn that this is a film that will stay with you long after the final fade.

The Cakemaker is melodrama fodder. A married man, a young son, a gay affair, death, deceit, revelation - the setup has all the trappings of a trite lifetime movie. It's not though, far from it. Instead, it's one of the quietest and most delicate films I've seen this year. It trades dramatic fireworks for quiet rumination, diving deep into the psychology of grief rather than indulging in scandal. The performances are beautifully restrained, the dramatic weight carried on the slightest of expressions. Character motivations are left largely unarticulated, challenging the viewer to empathize and draw their own conclusions as to their thoughts and feelings. The languid pacing may be patience-testing for some, but I found myself comforted and calmed by the stillness of the film. The drama is quite layered as well with cultural, social, and religious themes impressing upon the core triangular relationship. Perhaps what I admire most about the film though is the broad, non-judgmental way in which it depicts love and loss, unbound by social and cultural divides. A beautiful, honest, and melancholic piece.

Strong 4/5

Here we have a beautiful movie about a woman who apparently has given up religious observance (why?) and opened a cafe although she's not particularly good in the kitchen (why?) and a couple of men who fall in love with each other (why?) but although they're extremely underwritten characters, you don't notice because you're carried along by the pacing and the photography and the architecture and the music and some nice cakes and cookies. ("What cafe would serve such a big slice of cake?" my wife says.) It doesn't hurt that the actors are well chosen, including one of Israel's top actresses, Sara Adler, who seems to specialize in strong but quietly uncertain women. Any movie featuring her is worth seeing, even if there isn't much else to it (as in, for example, 2012's "Aya").

Tim Kalkhof is such a great actor. Just by looking at his look and the expression on his face you can understand his deep feelings. Excellent movie.

"The Cakemaker" is a gentle, sad film about a young German man who becomes infatuated with his deceased male lover and travels to Israel to be close to the lover's widow and child. He gets a job at a cafe run by the widow and the two of them strike up an uneasy romance of sorts -- both of them use the other as a proxy for the man who's no longer in either of their lives. Within this complicated emotional scenario, the film explores themes of cultural and religious prejudice and intolerance -- the German man has to overcome animosity and assumptions made about him by some of the Israeli characters while the widow has to contend with a different sort of prejudice because she's not religious and isn't "kosher" enough for some.

It's a very quiet and thoughtful film, and I really enjoyed its gentle rhythms. It's very much about grief and the human instinct to find people and things to keep alive the memories of those we've lost.

Grade: A-