Film Movement have picked up their third Foreign Oscar hopeful by adding Eran Riklis’ The Human Resources Manager to their list of two comprised of Olivier Masset-Depasse’s Illegal (Belgium) and Florin Serban’s If I Want to Whistle…I Whistle (Romania). Riklis’ film which preemed at Locarno, played at TIFF and was just shown at the AFI Fest, should manage to sway some first round voters his way — the director of The Syrian Bride and Lemon Tree is perhaps one of the more internationally known filmmakers out of Israel. Film Movement have tagged an unconfirmed March release date for the tragi-comedy.
Gist: An Israel, Germany, France and Romania co-production, this is about the Human Resources Manager of Jerusalem’s largest bakery is in trouble. He is separated from his wife, distanced from his daughter, and stuck in a job he hates. When one of his employees, a foreign worker, is killed in a suicide bombing, the bakery is accused of indifference, and the HR Manager is sent to the victim’s hometown in Romania to make amends. Far from home, on a mission to honor a woman he didn’t even know, but has somehow grown to admire, the HR Manager rediscovers his own humanity and his ability to truly care for “human resources”.
Worth Noting: As our own Eithan Weitz pointed out, the lovely crowd-pleaser was the upset winner at this year’s Israeli Academy Awards where it claimed five prizes including, Best Picture.
Do we Care?: Sure this may borrow certain ideas from Little Miss Sunshine (road-trip formula, ensemble in one unique mode of transportation), but we like this notion of cultural gaps being obliterated by the shared, common experience and Riklis’ appears to be using a far better tonality than in his previous pair.
