Karaoke

The delightful and poignant first feature from Moshe Rosenthal, with three terrific lead performances, Karaoke is an offbeat comedy about a suburban couple in their 60s who are drawn to their charismatic new neighbour. Meir and Tova live a middle-class life in a sleepy suburb, beset with an unspoken sense of disappointment and regret. When bachelor Itzik, a former Miami-based modelling-agent, moves into the top-floor penthouse of their building and starts hosting lively karaoke evenings, their lust for life is reignited and they start to compete for his attention.

A couple of years ago my parents came back from a wedding, very excited. They told me they met a couple their age and they want me to find them on Facebook. I found it extremely sweet and a little bit embarrassing, but I helped them. When I opened the couple’s Facebook page, I was shocked by the way this couple looked. They were my parent’s age but had colourful glasses and velvet jackets. They were the most flamboyant 60-year-old people I’ve ever seen. It made me laugh, but when I looked into my parents’ admiring faces, I realized I know that excitement, it reminded me of high school, and how I admired the new cool kid in school, how I wanted to be close to him. I could suddenly see the teenagers that still exist in them. That’s when I knew who Meir, Tova and Itsik were.

Director Moshe Rosenthal