Moments

This is Michal Bat-Adam's first movie as a writer-director. It's forty years old at this writing, and some of the scenes are by now unintentionally nostalgic for those of us who remember Israel from back then. Other scenes are intentionally picturesque, filmed in Jerusalem. The plot is somewhat minimalist and the scenes have a casual nouvelle-vague aesthetic of ostensibly throwaway naturalism that can be charming but can also verge on pretentiousness. If I understand correctly, it's about a woman who has trouble committing herself to making a choice and following through on it. Maybe trouble growing up. Bat-Adam (also starring) plays a writer who is trying to make progress on her book. Nothing, really, for the audience to care much about as such (for whatever unstated reason, she has zero financial worries) except that she comes to the screen with one of the most photogenic faces that the camera ever saw. She meets a tourist who functions as a sort of straight man for her self-revelations, but the tourist is a woman and the dynamic between them quickly implies she may not be entirely straight. The title "Moments" rather prefigures the rest of Bat-Adam's work as a filmmaker; her movies do tend each to be a collection of intriguing moments rather than a gripping continuous story with strong momentum. This one attracted more than a little attention and set her career rolling.