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Movie review

‘Motivation’ is lacking

Nelly Tagar and Dana Ivgy as members of the Israel Defense Forces in “Zero Motivation.’’ Zeitgeist Films

Has the time come for a comedy about the Israel Defense Forces? One with deadbeat women soldiers that updates the old “Sgt. Bilko” show and relocates it to the Negev desert? Talya Lavie’s “Zero Motivation” has more substance than a sitcom, even though it’s broken down into three TV series-like episodes. But it’s no “M*A*S*H” — a film to which some have compared it — either.

Lavie’s semi-autobiographical feature debut does resemble “M*A*S*H” in one regard — its dalliance with female stereotypes. Zohar (Dana Ivgy) is the clichéd tough girl from the Kibbutz, a screw-up and malingerer who, for some reason, is the only character permitted a random voiceover narrative. She has made an unlikely friendship with Daffi (Nelly Tagar), the girliest girl in the camp. Daffi hates the desert because it dries out her hair and she bursts into tears when her requests to be transferred to chic, fun-loving Tel Aviv are turned down. “How can you cry like this when soldiers are dying?” the base commander asks her.

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Other than a remark or two like that, however, you’d hardly know there was a war going on. These women work in the secretarial pool, where they file and shred papers, play computer games, and fill their futility with bickering and histrionics — it’s a version of “The Office” in fatigues, with less comedy. In lieu of combat Zohar and Daffi battle with their commanding officer Rama (Shani Klein), a persnickety martinet whose dreams of advancement are sabotaged by her crew of incompetents and malingerers. Or they squabble with office mates Livna (Heli Twito) and Liat (Meytal Gal) — a couple of hoity-toity mean girls who harmonize on pop songs — and Irena (Tamara Klingon), a potty-mouthed Russian immigrant who sees ghosts.

Those ghosts include that of a bunkmate who kills herself when the soldier she loves rejects her. This intrusion of madness and violence into the blandness presents a tonal challenge for Lavie — is it a moment of tragedy, black comedy, or an awkward plot device? She never resolves this dissonance, nor does she integrate into the film other jarring events, such as an attempted rape broken up by a woman with an M-16 who then sexually humiliates the perpetrator. Are these critiques of the macho, patriarchal system that the military embodies? If so, it’s hard to take them seriously — or comically — when the film then segues into wacky hijinks involving staple guns.

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Despite these rough edges, the performers begin to fill out their two-dimensional characters as the film progresses, and by the third episode everything starts to gel. It is much like the first season of a TV series that has gotten off to a slow start. Perhaps that might be the proper ambition for “Zero Motivation” — it can’t compete with “M*A*S*H” the movie, but maybe after a season or two of improvement, it might approach the quality of the TV show.

Related coverage:

- Israeli writer-director Talya Lavie debuts with ‘Zero Motivation’


Peter Keough can be reached at petervkeough@gmail.com.