THE BAND’S VISIT (BIKUR KATIZMORET) World Cinema

This audience-pleasing sensation of Cannes’ Un Certain Regard and winner of eight Israeli Oscars follows the comic plight of the Alexandria Police Orchestra. These eight slightly bewildered Egyptian officers, after getting lost at the airport, arrive in a remote, nearly deserted Israeli village, their powder-blue uniforms standing out against the desert landscape. Fortunately, they connect with Dina, a ballsy, sexy cafe owner (Ronit Elkabetz, three-time winner of the Israeli Oscar), who helps them find lodging for the night.

In the very first images of his first theatrical film, writer/ director Elon Kolirin displays a mastery of low-key deadpan visual humor in the manner of Tali and Jarmusch. By the movie’s second half, however, he pushes boundaries as several of the characters unexpectedly confront what one refers to as “tons of loneliness.” With its precise portions of tact, irony and sweetness, Kolirin’s film gives humanist cinema a good name, and offers yet another example of the resurgence of Israel’s vibrant, provocative and increasingly varied film culture.