original title:
Pink Subaru
directed by:
cast:
Lana Zreik, Akram Telawe, Hassan Taha, Akram Khourie, Nidal Badarneh, Michal Yanai, Mantarou Koichi, Nozomi Kawata, Dan Toren, Salwa Nakkara, Ruba Blal, Miki Warshawiak, Ronny Wertheimer, Loai Nufi, Giuliana Mettini
screenplay:
cinematography:
Hiroo Yanagida
editing:
Kazuya Ogawa
music:
Yasunori Matsuda
producer:
Mario Miyakawa, Keisuke Tanaka
production:
Compact, Revolution (Tokyo)
country:
Italy/Japon
year:
2009
film run:
96'
format:
35mm - colour
festivals & awards:
The car, in small Arab-Israeli towns like Tayibe or Palestinian like Tulkarem, is fundamental. In this country to own a car becomes of vital importance, in order to reach biggest cities like Jerusalem or Tel Aviv, and to be able to afford one becomes the dream of a lifetime, the car itself considered as a human being, a sort of wife. In Palestine many people buy a Japanese car, in order to save money, and Subaru is one of the most common. The film brings the audience into a few days in the life of Elzober, 45, a shy, modest widower and father of two, who works in a sushi restaurant in Tel Aviv and who can finally fulfill his dream: to buy a brand new black Legacy. His overwhelming joy is but not going to last: the very day after the purchase the car is stolen. In Tayibe, his hometown, a real fuss starts up, everybody helps out, sharing the panic of the little family, and all Elzober’s friends arrive to organize the research, just before discovering that the car had not been insuranced yet… Mahmoud, former car thief, Jamil, trickster and good friend, Jordan and Esther, a Sephardic Jewish couple, Dani, the owner of the Japanese restaurant, Sakura, a Japanese girl working at the restaurant; everybody join the quest, each one involved in a peculiar way and bringing with him his own life and problems. We follow Elzober in his journey, among car-wreckers, weddings hanging in the balance, sorceresses who read the coffee-grounds, big banquets, the dreamlike Dead Sea scenery, Playstation challenges, not so cooperative lambs. We are shown an unusual glimpse of everyday life of Arab-Israeli living next to the West Bank border, where people laugh, cry, joke, and carry on, and where war exists, but is not, for once, the main theme: the focus is on the common side of life, of everyday concerns, like getting married and bringing children to school, of the comedy hidden among the most trivial and universal matters, and on dreams.