Ariel Wolf: Last News

Concerned Citizen (★★★☆☆), a cleverly told story of what it means to be a good neighbor and citizen. One who considers himself both, Ben (Shlomi Bertonov), who lives in neat, orderly, Roomba-assisted comfort with boyfriend Raz (Ariel Wolf), plants that tree in an empty sidewalk plot outside their building.Clearly, he deems his efforts a selfless act intended to beautify his rough-around-the-edges neighborhood, located in the outer limits of Tel Aviv.

Manuel Betancourt The fine line between being right and being righteous is at the center of Idan Haguel’s “Concerned Citizen.” The Tel Aviv-set film follows a young gay man living in a neighborhood that’s supposedly on the upswing who has to question whether his commitment to bettering this increasingly gentrified community is all that selfless — or whether, in fact, that moniker he uses to describe himself and which gives the film its title is a smokescreen for more unseemly sentiments about his immigrant neighbors. Haguel’s deft dark comedy is a tight character study of the curdling effects of white guilt and white privilege. Ben and Raz (real life couple Shlomi Bertonov and Ariel Wolf) live in a picturesque apartment. Their shelves are adorned with masterfully manicured house plants and hip coffee table books on Bowie; their every morning is scored by the sounds of their robot vacuum followed by the hum of their blender as they make each other green juices to kick start their day. Together they’ve created a safe haven within their doors that staves off the relatively chaotic urban world right outside their door. Theirs is what we’ve come to label a neighborhood in transition — namely, a community where low real estate prices have begun to attract couples like Ben and Raz who value the “multicultural” vibe of their environment in theory though perhaps not so much in practice.

Leo Barraclough International Features EditorDark comedy-drama “Concerned Citizen,” which has its world premiere in the Panorama section of the Berlinale, has debuted its trailer. Berlin-based sales outfit M-Appeal will be selling the film during the European Film Market. The film, a satirical parable on the insidious ways in which privilege can unleash the prejudice within, centers on Ben, who thinks of himself as a liberal and enlightened gay man, living in the perfect apartment with his boyfriend Raz.

Leo Barraclough International Features EditorBerlin-based sales outfit M-Appeal has acquired world sales rights to “Concerned Citizen,” the sophomore title from Israeli writer-director Idan Haguel. The film was selected Tuesday to have its world premiere in the Panorama section at next month’s Berlinale (Feb.

The program announcements continue for the 72nd Berlin International Film Festival this week, with the full Panorama line-up now confirmed.