The USA decided decades ago that a film production company shouldn't also own a chain of movie theaters. In Israel, by contrast, the Edery brothers produce movies and have theaters of their own and are beloved by the public (although only one brother survives now). One of Israel's best-known filmmakers fell on hard times and the Edery brothers' company rescued him from ruin by buying his back catalog. That incident is fictionalized as the germ of Let The Party Begin, except that the fictional brothers, the "Nakash" brothers, are not so kind-hearted.
At the same time that the hard-up director is negotiating with the Nakash brothers, his wife is throwing a big party that makes Let The Party Begin reminiscent of Orson Welles' last movie, The Other Side Of The Wind, in which a filmmaker's hypocritical friends gather to salute him-- except that Welles died before he could fit everything in whereas Let The Party Begin seems to include everything it wants to include, while tastefully leaving some details unresolved and not often getting clumsy in sewing up others.
The writer/director/star of Let The Party Begin is Aki Avni, an unusual figure among Israeli actors who left to try their luck in America. Most of those Israelis can't make ends meet in Hollywood, they return to Israel, and they tell the Israeli press what a great success they were. Aki Avni, on his return, was a prominent exception, speaking frankly of his inability to get roles. In one interview, he explained that he couldn't play an American because of his accent and he couldn't play a terrorist because he doesn't look Middle Eastern. Be that as it may, his self-publicized career crisis also resonates in Let The Party Begin, with the protagonist at a loss to find the resources he needs in order to shore up his standing-- and facing a mid-life crisis as well.
Apparently Avni doesn't seriously lack for friends in real life, because some of Israel's best actors appear here in supporting roles, and the movie consists largely of little mini-dramas featuring them in turn. It doesn't get overlong, it holds attention, and it's Avni's first film as director. It's won a couple of awards at festivals, and I hope we can look forward to future films from Avni that take him out of the comfort zone of making films about making films.
