It's All So Quiet

Set on a bleak Dutch farm we find middle-aged bachelor Helmer caring for his dying father and tending to small herds of sheep and cattle by himself.  His sexual repression is revealed carefully in his association with the few people who visit his farm.  Most revealing is his treatment of Johan, the milk collector, another lonely single who may be a little more in touch with his feelings.  A young hand comes to work for Helmer and cracks his shell with bittersweet consequences.  The film's ending leaves  everything poignantly unresolved but strangely satisfying.  The late Jeroen Willems, brilliant as Helmer, in one his last films gave an authentic and heartbreaking performance.

Cupcakes

Another offering from Israel's Eytan Fox [Walk on Water, Yossi and Jagger], Cupcakes takes it cue from the likes of Mama Mia and Strictly Ballroom.  Six residents of an apartment complex playfully record a song they made up to cheer up the recently abandoned baker of the bunch.  It is secretly submitted to a Euro-song competition and takes the country by storm.  The up-beat pop soundtrack, six personal melodramas, crazy music industry manipulators and socio-political mores liven the mix. The cast includes many of Israel's biggest stars including gorgeous, Efrat Dor and Israel's answer to Sean Connery, the ever sexy Lior Ashkenazi This crowd pleaser with definitely make it to "Best of the Fest" and I hope it makes it to local theatres.