Anderswo (2014)

Anderswo: Directed by Ester Amrami. With Neta Riskin, Golo Euler, Hana Laslo, Hanna Rieber. You left your home to move far away. You were struck by a wind of change and were unfaithful to yourself. You reinvented yourself and you are now feeling free. But suddenly pressure arises in you.

“The German film Anderswo was shown in the U.S. with the title Anwhere Else (2014). It was co-written and directed by Ester Amrami.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe movie stars Neta Riskin as Noa, an Israeli woman who is studying in Berlin. She appears to be moving forward nicely in her academic and personal life. Noau0026#39;s thesis is a video dictionary of people trying to translate u0026quot;untranslatableu0026quot; words. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThis topic sounds like an oxymoron, but it isnu0026#39;t. The first example we see is of Noa interviewing a Portuguese man about the word u0026quot;saudade.u0026quot; We have been to Portugal many times, and Portuguese fado music is important to us. Fado music is based on u0026quot;saudade.u0026quot; When we ask Portuguese people to define u0026quot;saudade,u0026quot; they say, u0026quot;Well, itu0026#39;s sort of like longing, and sort of like sorrow, but not exactly.u0026quot; They usually follow that by saying, u0026quot;To understand u0026#39;Saudadeu0026#39; you have to be Portuguese.u0026quot; So, a video of a Portuguese man trying to define u0026quot;Saudadeu0026quot; makes sense to me.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eHowever, the project doesnu0026#39;t make sense to Noau0026#39;s thesis committee, and they send her back to work some more on it. Responding to this unexpected and bitter blow, Noa heads back to her home in Israel. Her German boyfriend, Jörg, follows her there.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eDuring the rest of the film, Noa comes to grips with her earlier decision to leave Israel, her relationship with Jörg, and her relationship with her mother and grandmother. How these relationships play out is the theme of the movie. What happens is interesting and certainly not predictable.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI enjoyed this movie, and would recommend it. We saw it on the large screen at the JCC Hart Theatre in Rochester, NY, as part of the extraordinary Rochester International Jewish Film Festival. It will work equally well on a small screen.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eNote: as I write this review the movie carries a dismal 6.6 IMDb rating. I canu0026#39;t understand why it has this poor rating. Itu0026#39;s much better than that.”