Footnote
Hearat Shulayim
Israel
2011
106 Min
Color
2.35:1
Hebrew
Synopsis
Footnote is the story of a great rivalry between a father and son. Both eccentric professors, they have dedicated their lives to their work. The father seems a stubborn purist who fears the establishment. His son, Uriel, appears to strive on accolades, endlessly seeking recognition.
But one day, the tables turn. The two men switch places when the father learns he is to be awarded the most valuable honour one can receive. His desperate need for recognition is betrayed, his vanity exposed. Uriel is torn between pride and envy. Will he sabotage his father’s glory?
Footnote is the story of insane competition, the admiration and envy for a role model, bringing father and son to a final, bitter confrontation. –Cannes Film Festival
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Scotch
10Dec12
The film might have been a little contrived at times (maybe a little too aware that it would be up for awards), and I simply lost interest about halfway in. I did like the critique of notions of mastery and masculinity, and its questioning of family loyalties, but I was on a 14-hour flight somewhere and can't really remember much else to say. Haha.
Carlos Filipe Freitas
26Nov12
Well made satire about ambition and obsession in a literate jewish family. Review and rating: http://alwayswatchgoodmovies.blogspot.com/2012/03/footnote-2011.html
Matthew Martens
12Sep12
ts climactic scene is overwrought, which is unfortunate, but for most of its duration Footnote is a clever, well-crafted, and -- perhaps surprisingly, given that it's about two generations of Talmudic philologists -- even soulful film. Besides the father-son rivalry and the bitter academic politics, there is something in here about language and nation as mutually reinforcing fortresses, imprisoning as they protect.
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NYFF 2011. Joseph Cedar's "Footnote"
By David Hudson on October 13, 2011
A “brilliant academic comedy” or a “sour, rather unpleasant affair”?
Movie Poster of the Week: The Posters of the 49th New York Film Festival
By Adrian Curry on September 30, 2011
A look at the posters for the films in the main slate of this year’s New York Film Festival.
Cannes 2011. "Tree of Life" wins the Palme d'Or
By David Hudson on May 22, 2011
Updated through 5/23. The Jury of the 64th Cannes Film Festival, presided over by Robert De Niro, and further comprised of Martina Gusman
Movie Poster of the Week: The posters of the 2011 Cannes Competition
By Adrian Curry on May 20, 2011
The end of the world will be beautiful, or so says the Polish poster for Lars von Trier’s Melancholia, quite fittingly on the eve of
Cannes 2011. Joseph Cedar's "Footnote"
By David Hudson on May 14, 2011
Updated through 5/20. "An intriguing tale of an ethical dilemma complicated by academic rivalries and family tensions is told in erratic fashion
Review: FOOTNOTE achieves moving feats of note
By Twitchfilm.com on April 13, 2012
What is it to love your enemy? That’s not a question I hear very often at the movies. That’s a question I hear at church. It’s been said that the two, movie going and church going, aren’t as different
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Credit where it's due
By Duncan Gray on April 19, 2012
There are two Professor Shkolniks, a father and a son. They are both scholars of the Talmud. The father worked hard his whole life on research that, for brutally ironic reasons, never paid off. The… read review
The truth and what to do with it.
By Michael Harbour on April 12, 2012
Beautiful, clever cinematography – much involving exquisite close-ups – reveals the human drama behind the polarization of meticulous academics vs acclaimed popularizers – within a field of study… read review
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