Photo: Dana Ivgy as Or in Keren Yedaya's (Or) My Treasure
Winner of the Camera d'Or at Cannes, Keren Yedaya's unflinching first feature 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 prostitute mother, Ruthie (Late Marriage's Ronit Elkabetz). The film begins with the 16-year-old picking up her mother 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 comes home with blood between her legs; Or taking a shower), Yedaya evokes women prepping for and salving the pressure of male aggression. Ed Gonzalez
Winner of the Camera d'Or at Cannes, Keren Yedaya's unflinching first feature 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 prostitute mother, Ruthie (Late Marriage's Ronit Elkabetz). The film begins with the 16-year-old picking up her mother 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 comes home with blood between her legs; Or taking a shower), Yedaya evokes women prepping for and salving the pressure of male aggression. Ed Gonzalez
