ZERO MOTIVATION

Saturday, November 15
5:00 PM

ZERO MOTIVATION
comedy 2014 / Israel, France / Hebrew with English subtitles / 100 minutes / Format: DCP
Director: Talya Lavie Cast: Dana Ivgy, Nelly Tagar, Shani Klein Print Source: Zeitgist Pictures

Winner of both Best Narrative Film and the Nora Ephron Award for Women in Film at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival, Talya Lavie’s Zero Motivation is the rare Israeli military movie that almost completely ignores politics and gunfire in favor of depicting the war against crippling boredom. Even rarer, Lavie’s debut feature is a loose satirical comedy told from a female point of view by a female filmmaker. In an Israeli Defense Force rife with institutional sexism, female conscripts are relegated to serving out their mandatory two years as glorified secretaries, routinely denied meaningful work and opportunities for advancement. In a lonely desert outpost, Daffi and Zohar are two of a group of young women assigned to the Human Resources Office under the ambitious Rama. With little to do besides fetch coffee, shred paper, and play Minesweeper, the respective goals of Daffi (to transfer to Tel Aviv), Zohar (to lose her virginity), and Rama (to advance in her career) clash in episodes of bitchy bickering, rank insubordination, and pranks as they wield their whip-smart dialog as accurately as their staple guns. Rodrigo Perez of The Playlist calls it “an absorbing office saga and diverting dark comedy” and “a surprisingly insightful coming-ofage tale, utilizing the milieu of the military to look at desire, loneliness, identity, fitting in, and many aspects of everyday complex female life.”