Princess

Adar is on the cusp of womanhood, at age 12 (actually amazingly played by 19 y/o Shira Haas) and lives with her mother, Elma, with her mother's boyfriend, Michael. Elma works hard at a hospital, and Michael was fired, but didn't care. The early scenes are Elma and Michael being far too amorous for being seen by a young girl. Adar skips out on school, and is in danger of being expelled, but it is rationalized that she is too smart for the school. Adar meets a young homeless boy, whom she invites to stay with them. I would suggest not viewing past the hour point, as the film really takes a very dark turn. Words to describe the overall film are unsettling, unwholesome, disgusting, creepy and that really applies to Michael, and add in groomer. It is not super explicit, just difficult to watch to the end. The performances are very good, just difficult subject matter.

This is a very sexually intense movie. It's about a 12 year old girl who's sexually curious. It's easy to see why with all that's happening around her - her mother and step father are not afraid to show affection in front of her. In the opening scene, the three are seen in bed together. This scene alone instantly gives you a glimpse into what their relationship is like and presents a precursor of what's to come

Later in the film she meets a boy who shares a striking resemblance to her. They become friends. The boy seems to be homeless and she brings him home with her parent's permission. They both have a slim, androgynous body type and her step dad quickly takes a liking to him. Up to this point there have been interactions between the girl and her step dad that seem innocent at first, but when he has similar interactions with her new friend it's clear he enjoys these tickling fights in more than a daddy daughter kind of way.

Throughout the film his perverted intentions become more apparent. The kids react in ways that seem realistic given the circumstance. They like playing out like they're having sex, but knowing that the step dad is not doing these things playfully, they become nervous in front of him.

This is well told story of a girl stuck in a home with a perverted step father and a mother either too weak or too careless to do anything about it.

This "movie" if you can call it like that, consists of acting and camera work. There is zero plot to this, zero story, zero buildup. All of our characters are there for the sake of being there. Nothing is going on in the entire movie. We got our characters just spending time together in their house, waisting 1 hour and 20 minutes. The two main characters that you should feel sympathy for, the mother and the daughter you'll grow to hate both of them very quicky. The mom loves and cares about her boyfriend more than her daughter, and just has this rude attitude. While the daughter is just whiny and does nothing in the entire movie. We have this homeless kid join them, and that makes zero logic itself. Who brings homeless people to their home, and let them stay when they meet each other for the first time on day one? I honestly can tell you that this movie is just an audio book. You do not have to watch anything just listen, because nothing is going on. I think movies like Lilya-4-Ever 3065 Days and Mysterious Skin are much better movies dealing with the same subject matter then this garbage would ever be.

Let me get something straight out of the way: there are people who give poor ratings to a film because they are offended by its subject matter, that is, they use their voting power as an attempt of censorship. I'd like to assure you that I am not one of those people. In fact, I prefer films that tackle difficult subjects because those are usually the ones that teach you something new, make you re-evaluate old prejudices or see certain things in a new light. In short, I firmly believe it's by being willing to get out of one's comfort zone that one evolves.

This isn't a bad film because it offends my sensibilities; it offends my sensibilities by being a bad film. The only things going for it are the acting and filmography.

In terms of telling a story, it's really bad, especially the almost non-existent narrative coherence. The film jumps from scene to scene without much logical connection between them, characters do weird things to each other one scene and are completely-fine-as-if-nothing-ever-happened the next scene, and it is, more often than not, impossible to discern what actually happened and what is perhaps a product of the main character's imagination. My girlfriend, who watched it with me, described the film as "crazy" at first, and as the credits rolled, "totally pointless", referring to how incredibly unsatisfying the ending was. It's a film that sets a lot of things up but ultimately doesn't deliver on ANY of them. It was 1h30 of our lives wasted.

Another way to describe it: you could randomly re-arrange all the scenes in this film and it would still have the same coherence as it currently has, which is to say, none. It feels like the scenes were randomly arranged to begin with.

How the other 6 reviewers thought this film wasn't bad is beyond my capacity to comprehend.

For a much, much superior film dealing with a similar subject, see "Una".

I was drawn to 'Princess' after seeing Shira Haas'(Adar) performance in 'The Zookeeper's Wife' as a young Holocaust victim. I see it as an achievement when an actor's performance creates enough emotion and control over you that you want to see their other performances. The film blew me away for many reasons, and Haas was only one of the reasons.

The film focuses on the 12-year-old protagonist Adar, a gifted young girl who prefers to hide the potential she holds. At home, she faces an abnormal reality. Her narcissistic mother, Alma(Keren Mor) is barely home and her uncanny boyfriend, Michael (Ori Pfeffer) is always around since being fired from his job. The atmosphere of their home is sexual with her parental figures making out in the kitchen and her and Michael playing forbidden games. In attempt to escape her harsh reality, Adar finds a dream-like boy who bears a striking resemblance to her to help support her. Only for a seeping scent of darkness to break her fantasy to pieces.

With extravagant and brave performances and the glimpse of the director's talent shining in the film, Princess is a milestone for the Israeli film industry. The movie does not give away any predictable clues or ideas of how Adar's life will wound up by the time she leaves our view and the screen blinks to darkness. Haas is remarkable as Adar and delivers a true and realistic performance of a young person drowning in a sour liquid called madness.Mor is great as her selfish mother who is almost successful at stealing Haas' spotlight.

Tali-Shalom Ezer has created a film not only for entertainment but as a warning sign of what happens in the minds of young children or adolescents when they are struck with abuse and neglect. Her film is a piece of art on her country's wall that should be cherished and shown upon her whole nation. The cinematography is beautiful, the screenplay is superb and the atmosphere is ominous.

Despite my compliment for the film,I do wish more happened in the film since there was sometimes a feeling of emptiness and a craving for more as the reel played.

Princess receives 9/10 stars