Saint Pauly

6/10

When your neighborhood Israeli restaurant serves the starter and main course at the same time... The problem with ירון שני / _Reborn_ is that it tries to combine two stories that can't be combined. The story of the adopted daughter grieving for her comatose father and the story of her 'sister' who wants to adopt a child of her own while befriending Avigail (the married woman from the Chained film of the trilogy) both remain half explored. The lack of attention does a disservice to both the plot lines and the constant vacillation between them lessens their impact rather than augment it. Fortunately, the directing is very good (apart from the blur used on women's breasts and the faces of extras, which is actually quite jarring -- it seems a good director would've found a way around this). The camera provides us with warm, intimate insight and the scenes of a live birth (:sweat_smile:), walk through a strip club, and fight been sisters are especially well done. While _Reborn_ is not as strong as _Chained_ (another film on the Love Trilogy; I've yet to see _Stripped_), it is certainly a worthy film on many levels, whose main default is trying to do too much -- which makes it a nearly forgivable misstep.