An Israeli Altman

>> Yana's Friends is delightfully complicated

by MATTHEW HAYS

Set in the anxiety-ridden Israel during the Gulf War, Yana's Friends follows the odd goings-on in the lives of a group of tenants living in a Tel Aviv apartment block.

The film focuses on Yana, a naïve young thing who's just arrived from Russia with her husband, a rather insensitive lout. He heads back to Russia, leaving her pregnant and in serious debt, assuring her he'll be back soon enough. Yana befriends neighbour Eli, a studly filmmaker who has a penchant for casual sex. He's also got that sex, lies, and videotape thing going on, capturing virtually everything he sees with his handicam.

Meanwhile, a financially strapped couple in the building has found a novel way of raking in some extra coin. They've put a stroke-afflicted grandpa out on the street, where passersby are very generous with donations. It's not very dignified, but the couple are seduced by the money. The couple are soon in a turf war over grandpa's spot, after another tenant, who plays his accordion for spare change, finds his daily take is eaten away by sympathy votes for gramps.

Directed and co-written by Arik Kaplun, Yana's Friends unfolds like one of Altman's better entries. There are crazy little subplots which fit organically into the overall picture. Best of all, there is a solid cast of actors who rise to the occasion of the screenplay, never overplaying comic moments but clearly getting the absurdity of every turn. And Kaplun turns up the volume on the absurd: when Yana and Eli finally get it on, the intimacy comes during air raid sirens and the two are forced to put on gas masks in case of an Iraqi attack. Kaplun cuts between shots of the two caressing and groping, covered in gas masks while sirens screech in the background. The scene becomes as much about war and comedy as it does about romance.

Making the plot points feel real is no small feat, particularly in a film like Yana's Friends. Considerable coincidences pile up as the film progresses and, while taking on elements of the screwball comedy, things never feel like they've left the realm of realism. It's a winning bit of stylistic tension, one that marks Kaplun as a director to watch out for. Yana's Friends is one of those satisfying films that leaves you yearning to see the director's next project.

Yana's Friends opens Friday, Dec. 1