The plot thickens

This is the story of a father son, of two generations of Israelis and of the conflict inside them between Israel and America.

By AMOS KOLLEK
Restless is primarily the story of Moshe (Moshe Ivgy) and his only son, Tzach (Ran Danker). Moshe is an Israeli living for a long time in New York City. He had been an unsuccessful poet in Tel Aviv, and when his wife gave birth to a boy, decided to leave it all behind and moved to New York where he makes a measly living as opportunistic, small-time and somewhat crooked businessman. Tzach, 21, serves in an elite army unit as a sniper operating in the territories. The film starts when Tzach's mother dies and he tries to contact the father he had never known, or heard from. Moshe, who spends his nights "borrowing" drinks at "Shimon's bar in the Village," gets an unexpected break when the jazz quartet fails to arrive and he is asked by the owner, Shimon, to get up on the stage and entertain the guests. Using rather vulgar but amusing poetry he makes up on the spot, both in English and Hebrew, Moshe quickly becomes a "hit" in the Village. When his life seems to finally start falling into place, his son (now out of the army) appears in New York with a lot of bottled up emotions that finally explode. The confrontation between father and son leads to the climax of the film. This is the story of a father son, of two generations of Israelis and of the conflict inside them between Israel and America.