Yaron Shani was co-director of Ajami, a film that combined a number of mostly related stories and that used nonprofessional actors. This time, it's not merely one movie with related stories but three related movies which by Shani's count contain a total of six stories. Surprisingly, he says you should not watch all three movies in a binge. They're somewhat taxing and he knows it. They're supposed to be. Shani says that when people aren't sufficiently taxed, they sink into depression; and he suspects that depression will be the next great plague in society.
So the movies depict difficult situations, and the nonprofessional actors knock themselves out improvising their way through. No word-for-word scripting, no repeat takes. And "Reborn" earned a shared best-actress award for its three lead players. How does Shani manage to elicit such performances? He immerses the actors in the roles for a long time before filming, and he claims that with such immersion "anyone can do it." After all, everyone can become emotionally invested in sports, and that's just as artificial. And everyone behaves differently in different situations.
From among the three films, this is the second one I caught. I caught it at a screening that was followed by a talk with Shani (and that's where I'm quoting him from). I think the first I saw, "Chained," was simpler. It more obviously had a main story developing in a clear direction. In "Reborn," if you're looking for a central protagonist to identify with and a central problem the protagonist is addressing, there may be a bit of frustration. We do see the central characters from "Chained" reappearing, and-- having seen that film and being, maybe, less than the ideal audience-- I found my interest disproportionately drawn to them. I also felt a touch of inconsistency between the presentation of the male lead of "Chained" there and in "Reborn." Maybe it's intentional; a question of point of view. Or maybe it's merely that, as Shani said, people don't always behave the same.
I think it was George Obadiah, a director of sentimental movies, who said "While I'm filming a scene, I'm crying. When I cry, the actors cry. When the actors cry, the audience cries. When the audience cries, the box office smiles." In the case of Love Trilogy, when the actors are totally immersed in the movie, the audience is totally immersed in the movie. What it means for the box office, I'm not sure, but it's impossible not to hope Shani and his trilogy achieve great success with their accomplishment.
