Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: Lemon Tree/עץ לימון [Etz Limon] (2008) - Israel-Palestine meet over an endangered lemon patch in Riklis' dull drama

3/20/2017

Lemon Tree/עץ לימון [Etz Limon] (2008) - Israel-Palestine meet over an endangered lemon patch in Riklis' dull drama

♥♥

An idyllic poster for Eran Riklis' Lemon Tree

An aging widow decides to pick a fight, when her lemon farm gets targeted for demolition, because the Israeli minister of defense, who is her neighbor, fears that it may foster terrorists. - Can she overturn his decision?

The drama of neighbors that is Lemon Tree seems an obvious metaphor for the Israel-Palestine conflict in general, although it is also based on an actual story of defense minister (2002-06) Shaul Mofaz's charge against his neighbors' lemon trees, SPOILER a case which ended up in Israeli Supreme Court, where the minister won, and the trees of the Palestinian neighbors were cut down.
Lemon Tree doesn't lift the monumental task of making this strife of dinosaurs, (which the Israel-Palestine conflict more or less resembles in the eyes of the surrounding world after all these years), seem important and alive for all of us on the outside.
SPOILER Slowly, the female hero (played by Hiam Abbass (I Still Hide to Smoke/À Mon Âge Je Me Cache Encore pour Fumer (2016))) falls for the lawyer. Lemon Tree has a mitigating warmth to it and some fine, humanistic acting, - but it is fatally boring. SPOILER - In the end, half of the trees go down. Of course, it is entirely possible that you will care more than I did.
Lemon Tree is written by Suha Arraf (The Syrian Bride (2004)) and co-writer-director Eran Riklis (Zaytoun (2012)).

Related posts:

2008 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2008 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

2008 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2008 in films - according to Film Excess

Watch a trailer for the film with German subtitles here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: 7.3 mil. $
= Unknown (but likely a minor flop)
[Lemon Tree premiered 8 February (Berlin International Film Festival) and runs 106 minutes. Riklis developed the film based on watching a news story of the actual event. Shooting took place in Israel, including in and around the Supreme Court in Jerusalem, Palestine and in Washington, DC. Financing came together as an Israeli-German-French co-production of no less than 15 companies and support funds. If the cost was kept at a relatively low and likely 3 mil. $, the film would still rank as a minor flop theatrically. It opened #63 in 2 theaters to a 14k $ first weekend in North America, where it peaked at #38 in 29 theaters and grossed 569k $ (7.8 % of the total gross). That was the 3rd biggest market for the film. The biggest and 2nd biggest were France with 2.8 mil. $ (38.4 %) and Italy with 1.4 mil. $ (19.2 %). It reportedly did poor business in Israel, where it was by many viewed as pro-Palestinian and polemical. In the only Muslim market registered on Box Office Mojo, Turkey, the film made only 3k $. It was the highest-grossing Israeli film of the year. It won a Berlin audience award, a David di Donatello nomination (Italy's Oscar), two European Film Award nominations, and Abbass won Best Actress from the Israeli Film Academy, who also bestowed the film with 6 other nominations. Lemon Tree is certified fresh at 93 % with a 7.1 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Lemon Tree?

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Donald Sutherland has passed away

Born in Canada, Sutherland battled polio as a child. His first credit was in Suspense (1963, TV-series) and his first film was The Castle of the Living Dead (1964). Later credits in his remarkable career include The Saint (1965-66), The Dirty Dozen (1967), M*A*S*H (1970), Kelly's Heroes (1970), Klute (1971), Don't Look Now (1973), 1900 (1976), Casanova (1976), The Eagle Has Landed (1976), Ordinary People (1980), A Dry White Season (1989), JFK (1991), Outbreak (1995), Fallen (1998), Virus (1999), Fierce People (2005), Pride & Prejudice (2005), Lord of War (2005), The Hunger Games (2012), The Undoing (2020, miniseries) and many more. He passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Roger Corman has passed away

Born in Detroit, Michigan, Corman had a sprawling, intellectually hungry life as a youth and young man before arriving with his first film in 1955, Five Guns West. He would follow that with titles such as Apache Woman, It Conquered the World, Attack of the Crab Monsters, Teenage Cave Man, A Bucket of Blood, House of Usher, The Little Shop of Horrors, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Intruder, The Raven, The Terror, The Masque of Red Death, The Tomb of Ligeia, The Wild Angels, The Trip, Bloody Mama and many more. As a producer he was behind almost 500 films. Arguably among the most important filmmakers of the 20th century, Corman passed away at age 98. R.I.P.

William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

Eagerly anticipating this week ... (15-24)

3/20/2017

Lemon Tree/עץ לימון [Etz Limon] (2008) - Israel-Palestine meet over an endangered lemon patch in Riklis' dull drama

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Eagerly anticipating this week ... (14-24)

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