'Sky and Earth' is heartfelt but feels like an outdated melodrama
The review says “Sky and Earth” is not a bad film, but it is hampered by clumsy, old-fashioned execution. The writer singles out its heavy-handed use of music, comparing it to primitive “Mickey Mousing,” and says the film often relies on office conversations, sofa conversations and corridor conversations instead of stronger cinematic storytelling. Still, the material at its core is substantial, and the cast largely rises to it.
The plot follows Maya, played by Hila Saada, and Aviv, played by Tom Avni, an upper-middle-class couple from central Israel whose eight-year-old son is diagnosed with a serious illness. That first crisis leads to the exposure of a hidden secret from the father’s past, and the couple’s search brings them to a Haredi family, played by Pini Tavor, Carmel Naser and child actor Daniel Nizri, with a connection known in full only to one character. The reviewer says the story will shake any parent because it raises painful questions about love, ownership and the meaning of parenthood.
According to the review, all six performers, including the two children, are excellent. Avni is praised especially for portraying a tormented man suppressing past sins, while Saada grows stronger as the film goes on, moving from a worried mother to someone who feels gaslit and gradually becomes a kind of detective and the film’s heroine.
The main problem, the review says, lies in the writing and direction. The screenplay, by Rinat Levy Tang'ji and co-written with veteran filmmaker and writer Eran Tzadamor, builds tension well at first but then collapses into an overlong flashback in its final third and fails to explore the consequences of the revelation. Director Robi Duanias, known from “Krav Shtor,” “Savyonim,” “Hashminiya” and “Shemesh,” is said to have handled the film too awkwardly and in a style that feels dated for a serious big-screen drama.
Even so, the review finds one especially strong element in the nuanced treatment of relations between Haredim and secular Israelis. A scene in which Avni’s character, a contractor, says he likes that his luxury project overlooks Bnei Brak is highlighted as an example of the film’s interest in the invisible wall between the two worlds. That theme, the review notes, echoes Tzadmor’s earlier work on the “Buchrim Tovim” films, the third of which is already in development.
