Release Details

Title: Round Trip

Release Date: 09/20/2005

Label/Distributor: Wolfe Video

Rating: NR (Not Rated)

Retail Price: $24.95

Cast: Shahar Rozen

Running Time: 95

DVD Video Options: Color, Closed-captioned

DVD Audio Options: English, Dubbed; English, Subtitled

UPC Code: 754703762498

Nurit (Anat Waxman), a forty year old bus driver, reaches a point where she can no longer stand her confining life. Leaving behind her husband, she takes her two kids to the big city. In Tel Aviv, she finds work in what she does best, driving a bus, and rents an apartment in a shady part of the city. But life as a single mom is not easy and Nurit finds that juggling between the demands of her job and her children is more than she can handle. She hires Mushidi (Nathati Moshesh), an illegal immigrant from Ghana, to be a live-in nanny, who instead of paying rent will cook, and take care of the children. With the help of Mushidi, Nurit discovers new things about herself and redefines her motherhood and femininity.


Tipsheet Reviews
Foreign-Language Drama

Round Trip

By Mekado Murphy 9/5/2005

Color, NR (mature themes, language), 95 min., DVD only $24.95, Hebrew and English with English subtitles

DVD: no special features

Street: Sept. 20, Prebook: now

First Run: DVD premiere

Cast: Anat Waxman (Nina's Tragedies), Nathati Moshesh (Cape of Good Hope), Eyal Rozales (Walk on Water), Nathan Zahavi, Ido Port

Director: Shahar Rozen

WOLFE

Story Line: Unhappy in her marriage, Israeli bus driver Nurit (Waxman) decides to separate from her husband and move with her two children to Tel Aviv. She hires a Nigerian nanny (Moshesh) to look after her children and develops a romantic relationship with her.

Bottom Line: Although the nanny romance plot of this drama might feel Jude Law-ish in its scandal potential, director Rozen could not be any less interested in approaching Round Trip on salacious terms. This very dignified movie will most successfully be marketed as a lesbian genre title, but its focus is really on broader ideas of independence and self-discovery. Waxman tackles the difficult role of Nurit with expert skill, exhibiting a range of emotions as diverse as the cast. Moshesh enters the movie about a third of the way in and mesmerizes each moment she is on screen. The volume of issues explored between the two leads, from race to class to politics to lesbianism, might be a bit much for a 95-minute movie to handle, but its willingness to go for the gold in its topicality is admirable. Plus, an ending free of sappiness and cheer assures that this title is from nowhere near Hollywood. Gay and lesbian audiences, as well as those interested in romantic stories off the beaten path, should find something special here.

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