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Male ego the true star of painfully human drama 'Footnote'

<b>Reel Life review: 'Footnote'</b>

The true star of Joseph Cedar's painfully human drama "Footnote" is the male ego, and the blackly comic story centers around how a father-and-son pair of Jewish Talmudic professors deal with it.

The bitter father Eliezer (Shlomo Bar-Aba) has never been recognized for his lifetime of Talmudic studies. Yet, his ambitious son Uriel (Lior Ashkenazi) has become a superstar, praised for his work and soon to be awarded the prestigious Israel Prize.

When a secretary mistakenly informs Eliezer, not Uriel, that he is to be given the Israel Prize, the father's soul soars that his life has been validated.

What does the Israel Prize committee (run by a professor who dislikes Eliezer) do now? More important, what does Uriel do with his dad's pride on the line?

Cedar pulls spot-on performances from his male-heavy cast and dresses up a deadpan comic attitude with cute chapter titles and graphics. The result?

A candid study of a father-and-son relationship set against a backdrop of cutthroat educational politics that portrays the male ego as an exposed electrical wire.

Don't touch it.

Unless, like Uriel, you have to.

"Footnote" opens at the Century Centre in Chicago, the Renaissance Place in Highland Park and the Evanston CineArts 6. Rated PG. In Hebrew with English subtitles. 105 minutes. ★ ★ ★

<b>Dann, you sexist pig!</b>

<b>Dann: </b>Regarding your "Silent House" review: Fair film plus great cleavage equals 2 stars, ergo, fair film plus unremarkable cleavage equals 1 star? Would it have rated 3 stars if Ms. Olsen had been even more generously blessed?

The merits of a movie should have nothing to do with cleavage. The relevance and credibility of a critic, however, are greatly diminished by his transfixed focus on the irrelevance of a tight, low-cut sweater.

Perhaps your assessment of this film would have been more accurate and impartial had you actually watched the acting rather than ogle the actress, and follow the storyline more intently than her scant costuming.

I have followed your columns and critiques for years, and while you seem to be very knowledgeable about the craft in general, your personal prejudices remain the primary reason that I disagree with many of your conclusions.

Examples: 1. If you dislike a particular genre, i.e. science fiction, you automatically rate it lower with comments of a more disdainful flavor.

2. You often disparage a film because it's "been done before." So what if it has? A film should stand completely alone on its own merits, regardless of whether or not it's similar to another.

3. Mobile blood stains should definitely be avoided by the continuity department, but why allow that minimal distraction to divert you away from the performance? Do you have a chest fetish?

A critic should be first and foremost, impartial. After so many years, you haven't learned to leave your biased tastes at the ticket counter, as your sexist bent reveals more than Ms. Olsen's endowments.

You're a male first, a critic second. And your female audience has just decreased by one.

<b>- Longtime former reader Gabriella Davis</b>

<b>Dear Gabriella: </b>On the outside chance this may be a trial separation and not a divorce, allow me to answer your concerns as best I can:

1. The filmmakers - the director and costume designer - chose to emphasize and exploit Ms. Olsen's cleavage for presumably higher box office potential. I merely observed that emphasis and reported it.

2. I like virtually all film genres, although I struggle with torture porn. If I disliked science fiction as you charge, how do you explain "Avatar" on my 2009 top 10 movie list?

3. If I truly disparaged movies strictly because they've "been done before," the Coen brothers' remake of "True Grit" and David Fincher's remake of "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" would not be on my top 10 lists.

4. You suggest that a film should stand on its own merits and I agree. Films should be evaluated not on the basis of who made it first, but who made it best.

5. If Ms. Olsen's cleavage had "diverted" me from her performance, how could I observe that she "brings such believability and vulnerability to Sarah" and call her "amazingly talented and charismatic"?

6. Do I have a chest fetish? Maybe, but I think an actress' sexiest physical attributes are her eyes. Show me an actress with fire, intelligence and playfulness swirling around in those ocular orbs and I'm silly putty.

7. You suggest that a critic should first and foremost be impartial, when the exact opposite is true.

Hard news reporters must be impartial and unbiased and never express their opinions on the job. Critics openly employ partiality, opinions and biases in providing personal assessments of works in the arts and entertainment field.

8. A male first? I am a human being first, a male second, a husband third, a father (of two astonishing daughters) fourth, with "critic" somewhere down the list. It's important to remember that who you are and what you do are not the same thing.

So, Gabriella, I hope I have addressed your issues. And thanks for your kind words "knowledgeable about the craft in general."

High praise indeed from a most discerning reader.

<b>- Dann</b>

<b>Reel Life review: 'Kill List'</b>

Ben Wheatley's peculiar and meticulously constructed thriller "Kill List" doesn't mash up genres so much as add a new one every 15 minutes. First, it appears to be a domestic drama about two British buddies Jay (Neil Maskell) and Gal (Michael Smiley) lamenting their romantic and economic troubles.

Then we find out they're hit men.

Then we find out their strange new employers have a hidden agenda that takes the story into unpredictable and full-on violent outrageousness.

It will ruin nothing to suggest Wheatley (he gave us the 2009 crime family film "Down Terrace") tips his filmmaking cap to the Brit cult stunner "The Wicker Man."

Fans of PG-13 terror tales might want to check out of "Kill List" too early. It ultimately becomes the narrative equivalent of us having no idea what's behind the next door - but we know it can't be good.

"Kill List" opens at the Music Box Theatre, Chicago. Not rated; for mature audiences (contains graphic violence, nudity, coarse language). 95 minutes. ★ ★ ★

Ÿ <i>Daily Herald film critic Dann Gire's column runs Fridays in Time out!</i>

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