Lado A Lado Com Um Assassino

Galia is a Ukrainian prostitute stuck in Israel. Things get even worse when she is forced to carry assassinations for the criminals to which she is property. All day long, Galia does nothing but stay in her apartment, waiting for hit assignments. Eventually, she strikes a friendship with her neighbour, Elinor, who is herself victim of an abusive husband.

This movie combines several cliché elements yet delivers them in a captivating way and puts some real heart in what could easily have been another run-of-the-mill thriller. There's a definite Besson influence here, particularly elements of "Nikita" and "The Professional". Director Danny Lerner focuses on these two women, particularly Galia, and paints an ugly picture of a world where women are still basically "property". Alhough Galia carries cold, calculating hits like a pro, she turns into an obedient girl when facing her "bosses" and gets slapped around. As a viewer, it's tough not to cringe. Another interesting aspect as a North Anerican was the Israelian setting and the exploration of different cultures, since Galia herself is an outsider.

Ninette Tayeb is really solid as Elinor but it is Olga Kurylenko who really shines here. Other movies that she was featured in showed an actress with potential and here, she realizes much of it. In most scenes, she is very believable and the role is rather demanding as Olga shifts from recluse to opening to Elinor and from a fragile woman to a cold hearted killer. The script helps but the whole story depends on Kurylenko's ability to draw us in and make us understand when words are lacking.

The finale is thrilling enough and fans of "Carlito's Way" will see a nice nudge to this film's own finale as a bunch of crooks pursue Olga and Elinor in a terminal station. Much like Besson, Lerner has crafted a movie that mixes the grittiness of an old school Scorcese with the more naive vibe of a classic Hollywood flick.

The result is a solid thriller with an international flavor and a great cast.

-- Review contains spoilers I liked the actors,I hated the story and music.

The movie has some really powerful scenes, in which we get a glimpse of the real human trafficking.

The story is beyond stupidity: A runaway mother from her mentally retarded child, which somehow is sold as a sex-slave in Israel, reached to become a bad ass assassin which kills all her owners + bodyguards and become friends with a sexy husband abused woman.

The action, is not really good and frankly the Hollywood stereotype of spaghetti arms assassins, it's getting boring. Actually the only good scenes are the ones where the girls talk and when we see some European human trafficker mentality towards his salves.

Being familiar with Israeli cinema and hating it, I have to say that I welcomed the idea of this movie when it was announced. Among tearful melodramas, unnecessary and unfair political films, boring war pictures and idiotic romantic dramas, Kirot stood, at first, as the refreshing example of the much needed genre cinema in Israeli film industry.

Just imagine following pitch: sexy Ukrainian woman is forced to work as a prostitute after being threatened and violently beaten. Then she gets a gun and forced to become an assassin, also becomes involved in a lesbian relationship with her neighbor. But when she is given an assignment that she doesn't like, she rises against her abusers and her former pimps in old fashion bloody revenge.

Sounds great, isn't it. Juicy, violent and gory exploitation flick in potential. In some places such idea could turn out to be "Thriller: A Cruel Picture", in others it could turn to be ""Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion", even "Kill Bill", but for some reason in Israel it turned out to be "Kirot", which is more an insult than a compliment.

So maybe no one actually intended to make an exploitation flick here (and really why not?), but this is besides the point. The movie "Kirot" is a pale shadow of any good expectations I've had about the film. Instead of daring plot, bold direction and uncompromising violence all we got here is a boring story with carton characters without any ability to be liked, crude and dull direction, forceful and artificial manipulation on the viewer, and finally many rip offs and little imagination.

And although camera work is somewhat innovative, sometimes even very nice (single shots), it feels disconnected and pointless in connection to the movie itself. Because every part should work together, here each part is pulling to a different direction.

Lerner is not a good director and even worse screenwriter. His rise as the next big thing in Israeli cinema is not surprising, because he is not representing anything new, only an upgrade of the old. You can imagine how bad the old school is if even the younger upgrade still fails where the majority of world cinema succeeds for many years.

A viewer should not spend his time justifying narrative flaws and implausible events, viewer should not be forced to feel sorry for a female character for a sole reason of her being abused by a man, and a viewer should not have only that feeling alone towards her. Seriously, for each character in this film you can only have one single emotion, so underdeveloped and caricature they are. It's like being back in kindergarten when they said to you - "a cow goes moo", because this is the only thing she goes.

Instead of telling a story, defining the characters by their actions, Lerner decides it is time to play very sad piano music while showing the heroine walking on the street and crying, for like 3 minutes. Then to show the depth of her inner desires, wishes and hopes he shows her painting a sad picture on the wall with black colors. So sad (wiping tears). Instead of showing characters trying to deal with the world around them, he shows them escaping it. Instead of showing some kind of character development, because people do change under harsh conditions of reality, he decides that his characters will remain the same, keeping same faces, same attitude, same problems, same idiotic ideals. The characters are stuck in their private hell, each one of them, without any ability to evolve and change. And maybe that was the point of the movie, but doing stupid things intentionally doesn't make them smart.

Which illustrates my point exactly - Israeli filmmakers are simply unable to change, unable to adapt themselves to the current world of film goers and filmmakers. All the talking about new approach, new style, are false statements from someone who doesn't understand what does it mean to be different and innovative. Same all drama, same old forced tears, same old unconvincing conflicts and same old dramatic weaknesses.

Looking for a new path, a fresh start, a new wave in Israeli cinema is still not dead, but it sure will not start with 'Kirot' or Lerner. I am still looking for a day when Israeli filmmakers will not act like homeless beggars, going to film festivals just to collect their season donations. Still looking for a day an Israeli movie will be actually remembered one year after its release, or at least will have more than one comments page on IMDb board.

When announcing the film production Lerner said that the movie will be about two chicks and lots of guns. Far from the truth. More like a depressing love story about people accepting their fate and unable to change. How very relevant in that area of the world.

Throughout the movie the script portrays the two women as the most stupid beings that have ever existed... the ending even worse, what would Eleanor do with a corpse? How come there was that shooting and nobody seems to bother in the station at the end? Even a low budget movie at least some logic and common sense. Not this one...

A Ukranian woman, Galia, is working as a prostitute in Tel Aviv, when her friend is beaten and stabbed to death. She survives the abuse by the Russian mobster and he offers her a deal to stop selling her body if she will become an assassin instead. She is given a modest apartment and follows orders. Her passport is being held, preventing her from traveling to see her daughter.

Day after day, her neighbor, Elinor, is physically abused by her husband. She finally stabs him and the two run away as the mob turns on Galia after she steals money she is owed by her mafia bosses. The speaking parts alternate from English to Russian to Hebrew with subtitles.

There are the usual chase scenes and shootouts and Olga Kurylenko is sexy as Galia, the lead hit woman on the run from the bad guys. A desperate woman doing anything necessary to survive in a cold, cruel world, The Assassin Next Door is depressing and in the end an average action film.