Footnote

Think the world of corporate
competition can get nasty? Try academic infighting. For some reason, the
smaller the stakes are, the nastier the conflict becomes. Add in an unhealthy
dose of father-son rivalry and you’ve got the makings of a particularly toxic
brew. Or so goes the premise of 2011 Oscar-nominated Footnote, from
writer-director Joseph Cedar (Beaufort).

Eliezer Shkolnik (Shlomo
Bar-Aba) and his son Uriel (Lior Ashkenazi) are Talmudic professors at Hebrew University. Eliezer is the dour, snobbish traditionalist, a scholar who has spent
his life doggedly (and ploddingly) verifying every nuance of his research. In
contrast, Uriel is more of a big-picture guy, a perky populist who is
unconcerned with finicky details. Needless to say, the son’s work has been
embraced while Dad has toiled in bitter obscurity. This has strained their
relationship, creating friction both at work and in the home their families
share. Until, that is, Eliezer receives a letter informing him that he has been
awarded the prestigious Israel Prize for his life’s work. Finally feeling
validated, Eliezer’s mood brightens considerably. Unfortunately, so does his
vanity, leading him to publicly condemn his son’s work as superficial. But
there’s a wrinkle — the prize notification letter was intended for Uriel not
Eliezer.

Don’t be put off by the
Judaic trappings of Footnote; the majority of Cedar’s film is a sharp,
relationship-driven (albeit deadpan) comedy that cheerfully eviscerates
academia while examining the friction that comes from family grudges and
legacy. In many ways, the Talmud (the Hebrew bible) is a prop, the kind of
narrow field of study that seems to pressurize professional competition and
contempt. It’s here that the movie works best — sending up pompous bureaucrats,
petty university politics and personal jealousies.

The talented cast struggles and
strains to make unlikable characters interesting, if not sympathetic. Ashkenazi
is effectively frustrated and befuddled as the gladhanding and lazy yet honest
Uriel. Bar-Aba has the harder row to hoe, injecting just brief moments of
humanity into the simmering arrogance, hypocrisy and egotism of Eliezer. But
even as you find your tolerance for both severely tested, Cedar is smart enough
to uncover the roots of their personalities, while offering up a tart bit of
social commentary. His movie also give us intriguing glimpses of modern Israeli
life, providing details and accents that contextualize the world these
characters live in.

Unfortunately, the
heavy-handed dichotomy between father and son too often borders on sitcom, and
Cedar tries too hard to sell the humor with big music cues, cute on-screen
titles, and Wes Anderson-style cut scenes. There are a few successful stabs at
comedy — a showdown in a cramped meeting room for one — but the overall tone of
the film is too sour for its stabs at absurdist laughs.

Footnote’s latter third further undermines any chance at
caustic success as it lurches from droll comedy to realistic family drama.
Underlining the fact that Uriel went into the field of Talmudic studies to get
closer to his imperious dad only to drive a bigger wedge between them, Cedar
milks the father-son mush for as much reconciliation as he can get while
mounting a heartfelt defense for scholarly learning. It’s a surprisingly
sentimental choice that guarantees this flawed yet ambitious comedy will, like
its unsung academic subjects, become just another historical footnote in the
history of Oscar-nominated cinema.

Opens Friday, April 13,
at the Maple Art Theatre, 4135 W. Maple Rd., Bloomfield Hills; 248-263-2111.

This article appears in Apr 11-17, 2012.