DVD Review: Keren Yedaya’s Or (My Treasure) on Kino on Video

A flawed work about prostitution and a frayed mother-daughter union in Israel that’s at least worth a rental.

Or (My Treasure)Keren Yedaya’s unflinching Or (My Treasure) is compiled entirely from motionless long shots meant to emphasize the agonizing daily grind of a teenage Israeli girl, Or (Dana Ivgi), and her mother, Ruthie (Late Marriage’s Ronit Elkabetz). The film begins with the 16-year-old picking up Ruthie from the hospital and locking her inside their apartment before trudging to work at a restaurant managed by her young boyfriend’s family. Characters frequently walk in and out the film’s claustrophobic frames, but because Yedaya’s camera never budges, their bodies are fractured time and time again. Yes, the edges of Yedaya’s formal compositions are seemingly unaccommodating, but her gaze is unmistakably tender.

Or (My Treasure) is largely about the wear and tear of the female body, and in the film’s more frank sequences (Ruthie coming home with blood between her legs, and Or taking a shower), Yedaya evokes women prepping for and salving the pressure of male aggression. In the film’s finest moment, in which the mother of Or’s boyfriend tells Ruthie that her daughter may also be prostituting herself, Yedaya summons the unspoken compassion between her female characters; as for Or’s rationale for the sacrifices she begins to make in order to protect her mother from the allure of the streets, it’s similarly unsaid but clearly felt.

But Or (My Treasure) shares problems with its kindred spirit, Lukas Moodysoon’s Lilja 4-ever, in that both films starve for a strong political perspective. Yedaya is clearly interested in the role of women in Tel Aviv, but the city—not unlike its callous men—remains anonymous. The director clearly has a feminist agenda, but when she fails to conflate the film’s sexual unease with larger social issues, Or (My Treasure)’s sexual paranoia begins to reek of exploitation.

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Image/Sound

The image is pasty and grainy throughout but fitting given the milieu of the film. Dialogue is reasonably clear but the effects sound a little hot.

Extras

A making-of featurette compiles 28 minutes’ worth of behind-the-scenes footage from the film; it’s completely structureless, but it’s preferably to the unimaginative, junket-style featurettes attached to your average DVD release of mainstream films. Rounding things off is a stills gallery and trailers for The Overture, Kippur, and Kadosh.

Overall

A flawed work about prostitution and a frayed mother-daughter union in Israel that’s at least worth a rental.

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Score: 
 Cast: Dana Ivgy, Ronit Elkabetz, Meshar Cohen, Katia Zimbris, Shmuel Edelman  Director: Keren Yedaya  Screenwriter: Sari Ezouz, Keren Yedaya  Distributor: Kino on Video  Running Time: 100 min  Rating: NR  Year: 2004  Release Date: January 3, 2005  Buy: Video

Ed Gonzalez

Ed Gonzalez is the co-founder of Slant Magazine. A member of the New York Film Critics Circle, his writing has appeared in The Village Voice, The Los Angeles Times, and other publications.

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