Turn Left at the End of the World (review)

“Israel’s top-grossing film of the last 20 years!” And it’s easy to see why. With touches of everything from My Big Fat Greek Wedding to Hairspray, this is a charming and shrewd coming-of-age tale featuring that great rarity in the genre: adolescent girls discovering both their sexuality and their place in the larger world beyond themselves. In a surprising and touching culture clash, Jewish immigrants from Morocco and India meet in a poor border town in the Israeli desert in the 1960s -- suspicion and bigotry colors their relations until two teenage girls, adventurous Moroccan Nicole (Neta Garty) and sensitive Indian Sara (Liraz Charchi), forge a friendship based upon their joint desire to be anywhere but there. The multilingual soundtrack -- dialogue is in Hebrew, French, and English (with Hebrew or English subtitles available) -- acts as an ironic underscore to all the unease bubbling up in this little community, between people of different cultures, and between men and women, none of whom seem to understand the others. Funny, sexy, and smart, this is a small, delicate gift of a film from writer-director Avi Nesher. Extras include multiple commentary tracks, trailer and TV spot, and more. buy at Amazon]

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