90% Footnote

All Critics (59) | Top Critics (27) | Fresh (53) | Rotten (6)

Israeli writer-director Joseph Cedar's tale of two Talmudic scholars set in present-day Jerusalem, while not exactly side-splitting, is quietly riotous. And, yes, the guffaws are bittersweet.

A droll, deadpan satire of the professional contempt and personal rancor that breeds in any narrow field.

Footnote is a film about the nature of truth, about sacrifice, hubris, hypocrisy. It's nothing short of brilliant.

It speaks to anyone who's been on either end of a grudge or family antagonism. And it saves its best for those who have witnessed clusters of the best and brightest descend to the level of grade school kids on the playground.

It's a wryly observed little picture that plays like an anecdote deliberately separated from some larger text that's hinted at yet never fully divulged.

It's not easy to make Eliezer a sympathetic character, yet Bar-Aba's demonstration of fleeting vulnerability awakens inevitable, if equally brief, compassion.

A bright, smart and funny movie that evinces a real feel not only for the daily work of scholars but for the bloody minefields of academia.

At times, the film seems to turn into a microfiche machine, with the story's sections divided by frames thumping past us as if propelled by a researcher, eyes scanning.

A first half frivolous enough that it's not as ghastly sentimental as it seems like it could be, and with a second half brittle enough that it's not as frivolous as it was when it started out.

While the premise delves into an alien landscape for most viewers not immersed in Talmudic study in Jerusalem, the universal feeling of familial irritation and begrudging respect shines right through.

"Footnote" gets sly, subtle comedy from the similarities between the two men, particularly since Uriel is unaware how much like his dad he is.

To many viewers the picture might seem as forbidding as a dense scholarly tome. But give it a chance, and you might find it as pleasurable as a good novella.

Writer/director Joseph Cedar (Beaufort) satirizes academic politics, personal integrity and generational resentment, but his stylistic choices undermine the points and punchlines.

Largely concerned with the prickliness and delicacy around legacy, and the attendant patrilineal complications...But it's as much about the egotism and dysfunction of academia, reflected in the complex personalities of Eliezer and Uriel.

Footnote finally gets back on track as Eliezer puts his philological skills to use, but it's too little, too late.

[A]cademic research has never been shown with such visual verve. . . [E]ach professor's personality and expertise [is put] in sharp relief both comic and poignant.

More Critic Reviews

prosperity japan earthquake bosom buddies diplo rodney atkins fergie one republic