One Week and a Day

One Week and a Day is a compelling and elegantly crafted drama-comedy film released in 2016. This emotion-packed movie is an intriguing blend of humor, humanity, loss, and life's simple pleasures. The film features stellar performances from a talented ensemble that includes Sharon Alexander, Shai Avivi, and Tomer Capone. It is directed by Asaph Polonsky, who straddles the delicate balance between pathos and laughter perfectly.

The narrative takes its inspiration from a fundamental Jewish mourning ritual called 'sitting Shiva'. The cultural tradition commands people to grieve for the loss of a loved one by an uninterrupted week-long presence in the house of the deceased, as a tribute and also to confront the jolting immediacy of that void in their lives. As the title suggests, the proceedings in the plot unfold right after this proscribed seven-day mourning period is over.

Shai Avivi portrays a middle-aged father, Eyal, who, together with his wife Vicky (played by Evgenia Dodina), has just finished mourning the death of their son. 'One Week and a Day' starts precisely at this point, the day after the Shiva, when normal life is supposed to resume. It’s time for Eyal and Vicky to navigate through the maze of normality while being weighed down by their immeasurable grief.

The distinctive narrative is spliced with gentle humor and moments of poignancy throughout the film. Eyal, instead of resorting to the monotonous rituals of life before his son's untimely passing, discovers an intriguing solace in getting high off his late son's medical marijuana. This offbeat coping mechanism that Eyal harvests not only brings a kind of relief to his tormented soul but throws leap streaks of humor throughout the plot.

The film showcases stellar performances by improv comedian Shai Avivi, who seamlessly transits from grieving father to an amusing character without jarring the sensitivity of the plot. Equally noteworthy is the resolutely grounded portrayal by Evgenia Dodina, who plays the mother attempting to return to the quotidian reality. It’s their performances amplifying the carefully balanced pitch of the movie between the grave and the light.

In addition to the loss and mourning, the film subtly discusses the fraught relationships with neighbors, friends, and even hospice workers, who negotiate their own discomfort with death and mourning, providing a vivid panorama of layers just beneath the surface of communities. Actor Tomer Capone plays Zooler, an eccentric and wonderfully immature neighbor, whose inexplicable spontaneity and honesty bring a delightful, light-hearted charm to the unfolding narrative.

Simultaneous to this, the secondary plot shadows Vicky, who tries to return to her everyday life by re-immersing herself into an elusive normalcy - participating in Zumba classes, returning to her school teacher job, visiting the supermarket, and more. This varying coping mechanism displayed by both parents portrays the uniqueness of grief, how it affects each person differently, and underlines that there are no ‘one-size-fits-all’ solutions to such profound losses.

One Week and a Day uses a unique backdrop to explore various themes, from coping with grief and the complexities of life to the underlying generational misunderstandings. With its tender and sensitive narrative, the film shares a poignant portrayal of the ways families and individuals grapple with the enormity of loss and the challenge of facing life after the bereavement period.

The film garners much of its strength from the subtle nuances and little details that form its narrative arc. These details, combined with brilliant performances, present a relevant situation with incredible relatability. It depicts the universal experience of grief through a culturally specific lens, striking a delicate balance between humor and heartrending moments.

In conclusion, One Week and a Day is a tenderly humorous and endearingly quirky film that perfectly showcases the beauty lurking in the mundane and the importance of accepting new normals in life. It reverberates with sentiments and life’s relatable moments that leave an enduring impression on the viewers, probing them subtly to reflect on life, loss, and love, all the while maintaining a sensitive layer of humor and showcasing genuine human connection.