Following Synonyms and Ahed’s Knee (HanukkahFest 2021), filmmaker Nadav Lapid delivers another blistering critique of Israeli society - this time in the aftermath of October 7th. Y., a self-abasing musician who makes his living entertaining the elite and powerful, panders upward until an iron-fisted oligarch offers him the ultimate commission: composing a new national anthem. He accepts for the extravagant payout - he does have a baby at home, after all - but his decision to produce a piece of propaganda shows how readily a submissive “yes” can replace moral conviction.
A visceral experience, the film unfolds in a state of excess, opulent and frenetic. Lapid’s frustration with his homeland is expressed through sound and movement - pounding music, relentless camera motion, and visual intensity. Where his earlier work leaned towards depicting resistance, this new work turns towards passivity, commenting on the cost of an apolitical and morally passive culture. –Dominique Oneil
“Nadav Lapid’s brilliant, showy set-pieces present a caricature of decadence and heartlessness in a society haunted by 7 October” The Guardian
“As sincere in its satire as it is satirical in its sincerity, the deliriously provocative Yes is a veritable orgy of self-loathing surrender that reaffirms Lapid as the world’s most visceral director on a shot-by-shot basis” IndieWire
“Yes is an astonishing protest film whose comedy belies a broken heart.” Screen Rant