Aviva My Love

In the northern Israel town of Tiberius, working mother Aviva Cohen (Assi Levi) is at wit's end. Her husband Moni (Dror Keren) is unemployed, her older children (Dana Ivgi and Itay Turgeman) are sullen and rebellious, and her hotel cook job is draining. But Aviva dreams of becoming a writer, so she's enthralled when her sister Anita (Rotem Abuhav) introduces her to famous writer Oded Zar (Sason Gabai), who agrees to tutor the talented but unsophisticated mom. Filmmaker Shemi Zarhin's beguiling Aviva My Love—part comedy, part drama, and part social commentary—won innumerable film-festival prizes and six Israeli Academy Awards, including Best Actress for the radiant Levi, whose beautifully drawn title character suffers daily indignities with grace (one memorable scene finds a dentist suggesting that she expose her body to him in exchange for his fee), all the while cherishing the personal fulfillment that writing brings her. A magical film, this is highly recommended. (E. Hulse)