If there were such a thing as an Israeli Coen Brothers movie, "Footnote" would be that film. It boasts all the quirks evident in their style of filmmaking, but it's still unique enough to exhibit director Joseph Cedar's personality as well. The story is simple enough, involving a father/son duo on polar-opposite trajectories in life. Uriel Shkolnik is an up-and-coming philologist who doubles as a professor and member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities. His work is widely celebrated by his colleagues and the general public alike. Seemingly everyone acknowledges Uriel's greatness — except his own father, Eliezer Shkolnik. Eliezer is, for lack of a better term, a has-been who dedicated 30 years of his life to a thesis ultimately founded and published by a colleague of his, completely discrediting all of Elierzer's hard work. Essentially, his life's work has been reduced to a mere footnote in history rather than an award-winning career. He's an obstinate research purist who has been all but forgotten over time.
Footnote
Footnote
Footnote
If there were such a thing as an Israeli Coen Brothers movie, "Footnote" would be that film. It boasts all the quirks evident in their style of filmmaking, but it's still unique enough to exhibit director Joseph Cedar's personality as well. The story is simple enough, involving a father/son duo on polar-opposite trajectories in life. Uriel Shkolnik is an up-and-coming philologist who doubles as a professor and member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities. His work is widely celebrated by his colleagues and the general public alike. Seemingly everyone acknowledges Uriel's greatness — except his own father, Eliezer Shkolnik. Eliezer is, for lack of a better term, a has-been who dedicated 30 years of his life to a thesis ultimately founded and published by a colleague of his, completely discrediting all of Elierzer's hard work. Essentially, his life's work has been reduced to a mere footnote in history rather than an award-winning career. He's an obstinate research purist who has been all but forgotten over time.