No Names on the Doors

Plot

The film is set on a modern kibbutz as the spectre of an Arab invasion lurks in the background and financial pressures are breaking down traditional communal values. A series of fragile, interwoven stories mirror this disintegration of collective ideals: a longstanding friendship between two 40-year-old bachelors (Danni Bassan and Meir Swissa) ends tragically when one decides to get married; a bereaved father is embarrassed to find himself attracted to his dead son's girlfriend (Dorit Lev-Ari); and a mother (Chava Alberstein) perpetuates the memory of her dead son by tending to his room as a memorial. At the same time, an elderly man (Mosko Alkalai) discovers a new, more loving relationship with his intellectually-disabled adult son (Avi Pnini).

Cast

Reception

Deborah Young of Variety wrote that Levitan's third film in his kibbutz trilogy "brings the action to the present day to show the sad dissolution of collective ideals that were these agricultural co-ops' raison d'etre. Though not exceptionally original, the fragile, interwoven stories have a sincere, heartfelt quality that should play well in specialized film weeks and venues." Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times called the movie "tender" and "moving".