Intimate Grammar

[Howard Schumann]

Thank you. I think now you told me you were going to buy an Israeli DVD. IN view of your comments here now, maybe your review is a bit more adulatory than is quite justified by your feelings, but maybe you want to encourage people to see it (if they ever can). However mentioning some defects could strengthen your case by making your evaluation seem totally frank and based on a total examination. I could imagine identifying with the boy too. I'd have to see the film to understand how it could be darker than Broken Wings, which certainly is grim and devoid largely of fun. You are very honest here in saying a film can go only so far in conveying the full sense of a 400+-page novel with much inner monologue. That's what I feel with any film from a good novel.

No, I pretty much stand by my review. As I said, though I wish Orly Silbersatz had toned it down a bit, she seems to be in tune with the character as written. Her performance is my only objection, however, and that is why I rated it an A- instead of an A. I think it could easily have been another half hour and perhaps with more of the boy's inner thoughts presented as a voice over, but since I wasn't directing the film, I accept it the way it is and recommend it highly.

[Chris Knipp]

Pretty much? I merely suggested that some qualifications and reservations might have strengthened your praise of the film. For me also it is important to know where you place its merits in relation to his first film, which I've seen.