‘Yom Yom’ only ho-hum
By Julie Brown-Micko

Yom Yom, which translates to Day After Day, is, as its name implies, a tedious grind. It has all the ingredients for a good tale: sex, infidelity, friendship, cultural conflict, angst. And director Amos Gitai won two awards at the 1998 Jerusalem film festival for Yom Yom. It’s a fine pedigree, but this sleeper is about as exciting as watching bread rise.

Set in Haifa, a bustling city undergoing massive construction, renovation and growth—and not all of it desirable—Moshe’s (Moshe Ivgy) stagnant, middle-aged life stands in stark contrast to the chaotic, busy world around him. His Jewish mother (Hanna Meron) and Arab father (Yussuf Abu-Warda) own a successful bakery and maintain a loving marriage. Moshe, on the other hand, only pretends to work at the bakery and bickers constantly with his disgruntled wife, Didi (Dalit Kahan). His best friend Jules (Juliano Mer) and sexy mistress Grisha (Natali Atiya) should bring him some peace, but instead increase his anxiety.

There is no plot to speak of. Poor neurotic, ineffectual Moshe bounces between his overprotective mother, his passive wife, and his needy mistress. He claims to have hypertension, but it is only a metaphor for his unsatisfactory relationships. Sometimes Moshe can be a sympathetic character, but his constant whining, like the long, drawn-out scenes, endless tracking shots and snail-paced action, nearly crush any feeling we may have for him.

More interesting than Moshe are his parents, Hanna and Yussuf. Their transcendent but practical love overcomes religious and cultural difference. At the bakery, they make modest but necessary bread for hungry Israelis. Every day they agonize over whether or not to sell their ancestral land to sleazy real-estate developers or keep it for their inept and childless son. If only Gitai made a movie about Yussuf rather than Moshe. It may be exactly Gitai’s point that Moshe’s existence will never equal that of his parent’s idealized past. If so, it’s a lesson that’s about an hour too long.

There are moments of tenderness in Yom Yom. The city of Haifa rumbles and vibrates with construction equipment creating a loud, dusty world of decay and progress. Amidst this ever-changing backdrop, Jewish-Arab tensions lurk beneath the surface. But there is a scene when prayers are said and sung for a loved one that makes the united grief of Jew and Arab almost beautiful.

But these moments are few and far between. On the whole, Yom Yom’s slice of life is a bit too quotidian.