''Alex Holeh Ahavah'' ( he, אלכס חולה אהבה, Alex Is Lovesick) is a 1986
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
The film is a romantic comedy that takes place in Israel during the austerity period of the 1950s. The main character is Alex, a 12-year-old boy who is about to turn 13 and attend his bar mitzvah.
Alex comes from a poor,
dysfunctional family
A dysfunctional family is a family in which conflict, misbehavior, and often child neglect or abuse and sometimes even all of the above on the part of individual parents occur continuously and regularly, leading other members to accommodate such ...
of Polish Jewish origin whose poverty requires them to share their apartment. Their tenant is Faruk,a man whose humorous battle against baldness is a running bit in the film.
At first, Alex falls in love with Mimi, the new girl in his class. Everything changes, however, when his aunt Lola arrives in Israel from Poland to search for a lost love with whom she once lived but who vanished after the
Nazi invasion of Poland
The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week afte ...
. Alex falls for his aunt and she responds by providing the soon-to-be 13-year-old with more than familial love.
The film authentically recreates the atmosphere of the country in the 1950s, known as the Austerity in Israel, including the black market, radio broadcasts concentrating on the search for lost relatives, music and pastimes of the 1950s and the era's clothing and dress styles.
Cast
* as Alexander Koprobski
* as Lola
* Uri Kabiri as Fishenzon
*
Avi Kushnir
Abraham Yeshayahu (Avi) Kushnir ( he, אבי קושניר, born 26 August 1960) is an Israeli comedian, actor and host.
Early life
During high school Kushnir studied at the youth village HaKfar HaYarok. Afterwards, during his mandatory military s ...
as Motke, Shuki's brother
*Jupiter Leonid as Leonid the teacher
*
Avraham Mor
Avraham Mor ( he, אברהם מור; May 5, 1935 – December 16, 2012) was an Israel, Israeli actor and voice actor.
Biography
Born in Tel Aviv, Mor started out in his teenage years performing in a show for the Hashomer Hatzair alongside fellow ...
as Alex' Dad
*Alik Pelman as Shuki
*
Shmuel Rodensky
Shmuel Rodensky ( he, שמואל רודנסקי, 10 December 1902 – 16 July 1989) was a Russian-born Israeli actor whose stage, film, and television career in Israel and West Germany spanned six decades. He immigrated to Mandatory Palestine in 19 ...
as Alex' Rabbi
* as Alex' Mom (as Hanna Roth)
*Hinna Rozovska as Alexander's Grandmother
*