Footnote: Israeli director Joseph Cedar brings remarkable zest to a tale of two Talmudic scholars, a father and son whose rivalry is inflamed when one of them receives a major prize. With kinetic visuals, a stabbing score derivative of Hitchcock composer Bernard Herrmann, and some devastating twists, Footnote plumbs the quicksand depths of moral relativism. And sly grace notes frame Israel’s culture as an armed camp with scenarios of high security at the gates of academe’s ivory tower.
Footnote: Israeli director Joseph Cedar brings remarkable zest to a tale of two Talmudic scholars, a father and son whose rivalry is inflamed when one of them receives a major prize. With kinetic visuals, a stabbing score derivative of Hitchcock composer Bernard Herrmann, and some devastating twists, Footnote plumbs the quicksand depths of moral relativism. And sly grace notes frame Israel’s culture as an armed camp with scenarios of high security at the gates of academe’s ivory tower.