Foxtrot - HKIFF 2018

Samuel Maoz's Foxtrot is a great follow up from his brilliant "Lebanon" (2009). Although it adopts a classic three-act structure, the three acts each had their own styles, from the tease and emotional act one to the deadpan humor with political satire (even at violence scene) at act two. A change of tone with a sober grief relief scene at the final act was only met with a heartbreaking twist.

Act one saw both Michael and Dafn stuck in their own home and unable to confirm whether their son is dead as the conflicting information coming through from the military personnel, whom for some reasons only half know the situations and circumstance surrounding the death. Audiences face an over-emotional Micheal as he had to deal with sudden sadness, joy, and confusion around at the same time. It resulted in nothing but anger for Micheal and only to add to the tension with his wife and other members of his family as well as to his own frustration. It served as the plot point or the climax of the first act before everything get slowed down into probably one of more humorous part of the film. The second act is certainly the highlight of the film with its wittiness, deadpan acting (and including the dance move that gives the title to the film). The supposedly tense atmosphere at the checkpoint had been depicted into a mundane yet surreal sequence. The young soldiers "trapped" and bored by daily routine work (taking almost straight of the book from Clarie Denis's "Beau Travail" as well as Takashi Kitano's "Sonatine", where gangster trapped on a beach and had nothing better to do apart making up games),  letting the camel to cross the gate every now and then or needlessly humiliating travellers at the gate was almost the perfect set up for the eventual tragic error they would make at the end.

We returned Michael's house in the final act, presumably a couple of months later. The focus is now on Michael and Dafn, which had a more sober mood and after eventually accepting the death of his son but for all the wrong reason. We see the struggling couple each trying to come to terms with the mystery of his son's notebook and the drawings and come to terms with themselves and reconciling with one another. Although the plot is about the mystery behind the death of Michael's son, Jonathan, the film's focus is firmly on Michael himself. The incident is merely a reason to bring Michael to face his own desire as much as the failure in the relationship with Dafn and cause of his own anguish.

The final plot twist is nothing short of a brilliant touch and only make this story an even more bittersweet one. It is as if Maoz serves a reminder that fate, similar to the foxtrot dance move, and indeed the closure of this three-act play. Eventually, you move back to the same position, no matter where you have been to.