Metallic Blues

DIR: Danny Verete | Israel/Canada/Germany | 2004 | 94min
In Hebrew, German and English with English subtitles.

SHOWTIMES:
Tues. Sept 29 | 10:00pm | Granville 7 Cinema, Theatre 1
Mon. Oct. 4 | 3:00pm | Granville 7 Cinema, Theatre 1

This international co-production starts off in an Israeli car dealership. An Arab-Canadian offers to sell his American nightmare vehicle - a bright metallic blue 1985 Lincoln stretch limousine - to Shmuel, the dealer's owner. Convinced that the car will fetch a handsome price in Germany, Shmuel talks his his more level-headed friend Siso into partnering with him on the opportunity. The two soon embark on a downward spiral of a roadtrip through Germany, where bad things that could happen do happen, and Shmuel's terrifying childhood memories of the Holocaust begin to resurface.

Mostly, the film is about scars - those left on both survivors and the German people as a nation, wholly unprepared to deal with these sharp reminders who come in the form of people still suffering 60 years later. The filmmaker wisely uses a few moments as punctuation in what is otherwise a pure (if depressing) buddy/road-movie. There are also some bright comic moments, and the performances of the two leads are always spot on.