Israel
2007
110 min.
Genre/Subjects: Drama, Gay, Jewish, Lesbian, Middle Eastern, Parenting/Family
Language: Hebrew (English Sub-Titles)

Trailer

This wacky comedy set in Tel Aviv ignores politics—and reality—to focus on its characters’ domestic and romantic problems, including the meddling of a “Jewish mother from hell,” played by a man in a tribute to Divine.

Like last year’s The Bubble, Antarctica follows the lives of a group of young people living in Tel Aviv but takes a very different and more upbeat approach. Instead of a politically astute tragedy, director Yair Hochner gives us a wacky comedy that ignores politics altogether while focusing on its characters’ domestic and romantic problems.

And no one has more problems than gay siblings Shirley and Omer. Omer is almost thirty and still hasn’t found himself — or the man of his dreams. A series of disastrous blind dates hasn’t helped. Shirley is a little younger and has already nabbed her dream woman, Michal, owner of the hippest café in town (and Shirley’s boss). But the thought of settling down scares Shirley, who wonders if she’s ready to give up her long-held plan of traveling to Antarctica.

As the siblings sort through their feelings and prepare for adulthood, friends and relatives chime in with their advice and problems of their own. No one has more of either than their “Jewish mother from hell,” Shoshanna, played, in what Hochner describes as a tribute to both the films of John Waters and the late great Divine, by Yoam Huberman, one of Israel’s most talented drag artists.