Funeral at Noon

A Hitchcockian atmosphere of menace envelops the dusty 1950s moshav portrayed in Israeli director Adam Sanderson’s second feature. Hagar is a waifish housewife rendered all but mute by the stifling daily routine of her passionless marriage. Hagar’s only escape is wandering through the mazelike ruins that lie just beyond the settlement and spying on the rebellious soldier who often appears there. Hagar shares her secret ritual with a watchful boy who lives next door with his burned-out mother named Sarah (in a stylized wink at the biblical story), and her loneliness is assuaged for a brief time. Sanderson—the son of singer/songwriter Danny Sanderson of Kaveret fame—casts a hypnotic spell. Funeral at Noon is a smoldering, elegantly shot and thoroughly unpredictable psychological thriller. Lead actress Hilla Vidor, a former model, is convincingly inscrutable, hinting at hidden motivations and dark secrets that may have eluded the eye of the beholder. Note: Mature Content North American Premiere