The intertwining stories of over a dozen distinct characters who inhabit an apartment complex located in a rundown neighborhood of Tel Aviv. Holocaust survivor Schwartz has enjoyed a peaceful existence living in his small apartment with Linda, a young Filipino who comes regularly to give him medication and company. But recently, Schwartz's treasured silence has been replaced by a cacophony of bangs, loud sounds and aggressive voices. One of the many obtrusive men audible to Schwartz is Hezi. He recently rented one of the nearby apartments in the building for a secret rendezvous with a beautiful and self-deprecating woman named Gabi. Their intense, unequal and often-violent love affair turns Gabi's life into a public and dissonant garble of psychological pain and physical pleasure. Also disrupting Schwartz's rest is a group of illegal Chinese construction workers who expand one of the apartments into the courtyard, without the landlord's permission. Divorcee Mali has her own problems as well. Their neighbors' construction workers have been contracted by her ex-husband Ezra, who is himself unwilling to give up his regular rapport with Mali and let her continue her life with a new young boyfriend. And to make matters worse, their son Eyal is missing after having deserted his military service.
Production Agav Films [il]; Agav Hafakot [il]; Hamon Productions Ltd. [il]; Israel Cable Programming (ICP) [il]; MP Productions [fr]; arte France Cinéma [fr];
Cast Names Yaël Abecassis; Hana Laszlo; Uri Klauzner; Ronit Elkabetz; Amos Lavi; Lupo Berkowitch; Liron Levo; Yosef Carmon; Amit Mestechkin; Lyn Hsiao Zamir; Tomer Russo; Carmel Betto; Dalit Kahan; Kobi Zahavi; Eyal Elhadad; Meital Tzadiki; Ilan Appel; Hu Hanzhou; Kiang Fang; Fang Heguo;
Box Office USD 48,493
Release Date 2004-02-27 (New York City, New York) 2004-03-15 (Denver, Colorado) 2004-03-20 (Seattle, Washington) 2004-06-11 (Los Angeles, California) 2004-07-27 (San Francisco Jewish Film Festival) 2004-10-27 (Milwaukee International Film Festival) 2004-11-01 (Scottsdale Film Festival)
Genres Comedy; Drama;
Running Time 2 hr. 2 min. (Toronto International Film Festival) 2 hr. 3 min. 2 hr. 3 min. 1 hr. 56 min. (Ontario)