Coming to theatres today, Friday, May 16: NEXT YEAR JERUSALEM
David Gaynes’ look at a group of senior citizens’ trip to Israel had its world premiere at Sarasota last year. It has also screened at Montclair, as well as Jewish fests in Atlanta, Sacramento, and Hartford.
Gaynes follows staff members and eight residents of a Fairfield CT nursing home as they plan an unlikely trip to Israel despite advanced age and the physical complications that can accompany senescence. As a group portrait of older individuals resolute in seeking new experiences, this earnest doc is worthwhile in concept, but it unfortunately fails to sustain interest in execution. Far too much time is spent on the set up, while the trip itself is largely anticlimatic – essentially, a fairly generic (and wholly apolitical) travelogue to the Holy Land. Frustratingly, Gaynes never sufficiently fleshes out his subjects – of which there are too many, with only a few displaying flashes of potentially interesting personalities – making it difficult for the audience to invest in their journey or its ultimate meaning for them.
what (not) to doc 