Yes
Directed by Nadav Lapid
One of international cinema’s most fearless and provocative filmmakers, Nadav Lapid has long been an outspoken critic of his birth country’s government policies, channeling a lifetime of fury and frustration into vital films like Synonyms and Ahed’s Knee that brim with righteous anger, spite, and shame. In Yes, Lapid once again takes vigorous critical aim at the Israeli government with a new approach: submission. In the days following October 7, Y., a jazz musician, and his wife Yasmin, a dancer, resolve to say yes to everything. Y. and Yasmin sell their bodies and souls to the highest bidder, surrendering themselves and their art to Israel’s social, political and military elite. Soon, Y. is entrusted with a mission of the utmost importance: to compose the music for a rousing, ruthless new national anthem. Feverishly whirling between moments of satire, sincerity, and complete submission, Yes is a visceral, blistering indictment of modern Israel, and an essential addition to post-October 7 cinema.
Reviews
"You can hear the rage behind the laughter in Israeli satire 'Yes'... at once both a portrait of a country and of artists in times of war. [Lapid] almost seems to bait you to look away, to turn off and tune out just like his revelers, even as he inexorably pulls you in."
"A whirling, maximalist satire at once despairing and exuberant, subtle as a cannonball in its evisceration of the ruling classes and those who obey them, it’s both absurdist comedy and serious-as-cancer polemic… it’s exhilaratingly of the moment and in the moment.”
