Dizengoff 99

A spaced out hippi, sexy girl and nerd try to produce a successful advertisement in Israel. Notable for nude scene with Israeli singer Gali Atari as one of the many girlfriends of spaced out hippi.

Writer/director Avi Nesher was beginning to looking like a sort of an Israeli Orson Welles-- starting at the top and working his way down. This movie, his second, didn't quite duplicate the success of his first even though a lot of people were enthusiastic about it. The character that sort of represents Nesher in the movie is working on a script-- if my eye didn't deceive me, it was called "The Cowards"-- and he says that he's going off to America but that people do come back. Nesher did make a movie called "The Cowards" and it didn't succeed. Then he did go to America, he made some movies there that failed to excite much interest, and he came back to Israel. The unusual and un-Wellesian twist is that in Israel he's been a big success ever since.

Nesher's success has redirected attention to his earlier films, but alas this one hasn't aged well. Nesher himself admits that his first movie, The Troupe, succeeded despite being plotless. So, more or less, does his most recent movie as of now (Image of Victory) but both movies engage audience interest in their characters and have a climax that makes the interest worthwhile. Dizengoff 99, not so much. In retrospect, it's not surprising that out of the lead actors, Gidi Gov (who came out of music), Gali Atari (ditto), and Heli Goldenberg (out of modelling) all pretty much dropped their acting careers after a while. They don't project sharply defined personality for the audience to grab onto, and the script doesn't do the work for them. Meir Suissa, who does his best with a part that consists largely of unintentionally (and unconvincingly) knocking props over, hasn't struck it lucky-- since Nesher's The Troupe-- with a big movie role that does him justice.

This is a truly awful piece of cinema. Everything about it is absolute embarrassment; we mustn't somehow lower our plot-writing and filming standards just because this is a 1979 film. There were already amazing films being made throughout the world at the time. It is at the same time a natural product of a then up-and coming Israel's cinema industry, and every sovereign state with a film industry has had a film like this. The acting, the illogical plot twists, the dialogue and the filming itself, are all at sub-par levels. Oh, and don't forget the text appearing at the end of the film announcing to us what went on in the lives of the main characters following this exhilarating story of the three of them living under one roof -- the text's translation is grossly inaccurate and is shamelessly misspelled! In short, as a big fan as I am of 'education through cinema', this isn't a film I'd ever show to my kids. If anything, I'd very much stand in the way of them seeing it.

An old Israeli movie (yes 1979 is old in terms of Israeli cinema) featuring an astonishingly beautiful Anat Atzmon, and some of the Israeli cult figures Gidi Gov, Meir Swisa, Gali Atari etc. Tel Aviv of the 70s atmosphere is accompanied by a great soundtrack. Overall the movie is very sincere and emotional still very much relevant for our days, it is very humane and unlike most of the Israeli movies isn't about war, holocaust or a stupid comedy.

To conclude, it is highly recommended for all of you to watch, it is the Hohmat Ha Beigale of the 70s.

P.S The only problem is that it was filmed on a lousy tape but the quality is tolerable. It also has French subtitles (may be useful for some of you, I could show it to my girlfriend who don't understand Hebrew and she loved it)