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Movies / On DVD / Yana's Friends
Yana's Friends

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Yana's Friends

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Reviews Counted:30

Fresh:30

Rotten:0

Average Rating:7.2/10

Consensus: A heartwarming movie that handles some weighty subjects with humor.

Runtime: 90 mins

Genre: Foreign Films

Synopsis: The Gulf War provides the background for an unlikely romance in this 1999 Israeli film that won 10 national awards. Yana (Evelyne Kaplun), pregnant and in debt, is being left by her husband. When... The Gulf War provides the background for an unlikely romance in this 1999 Israeli film that won 10 national awards. Yana (Evelyne Kaplun), pregnant and in debt, is being left by her husband. When Saddam Hussein releases poison gas missile, Yana is forced to remain in her apartment with Eli (Nir Levy), a wedding photographer who is easily charmed by women. Sealed in a bedroom, the two find they relate to each through one another's powerful stories. Set in 1991, this romance and two other unlikely pairings prove that love blooms when it is least expected. [More]

Starring: Evelyne Kaplun, Nir Levy

Starring: Evelyne Kaplun, Nir Levy

Director: Arik Kaplun

Director: Arik Kaplun

[See More Credits]

Reviews for Yana's Friends

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1 - 20 (sorted by critic A-Z; UK critics are listed first)
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Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
06/24/06
Geoff Andrew
Geoff Andrew
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

[Yana's] understated optimism and enjoyment of life gives the film much of its vitality.

Full Review Source: eye WEEKLY | comment Comment
10/08/01
Jason Anderson
Jason Anderson
eye WEEKLY

Sweet, sexy, and unexpectedly enchanting, "Yana's Friends" is the little feel-good comedy that could.

Full Review Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer | comment Comment
03/22/02
Sean Axmaker
Sean Axmaker
Seattle Post-Intelligencer

It is heartwarming and often funny, but in its lightness somehow misses the mark.

Full Review Source: Miami Herald | comment Comment
05/24/02
Marta Barber
Marta Barber
Miami Herald

An appealing Israeli film about the resiliency needed by a small band of Russian immigrants to survive in difficult times.

Full Review Source: Spirituality and Practice | comment Comment
10/13/01
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Spirituality and Practice

Lots of charm and likeable characters add up to a delightful movie.

Full Review Source: TheMovieChicks.com | comment Comment
07/12/02
Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone
Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone
TheMovieChicks.com

Amusing with one unforgettable gag, Kaplun's film does a passable job of portraying the hardships endured by immigrants but is more notable for placing a light-hearted tale in a decidedly heavy time and place.

Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine | comment Comment
12/23/01
Rachel Deahl
Rachel Deahl
Boxoffice Magazine

One of the best date movies to come out in months.

Full Review Source: New York Post | comment Comment
10/12/01
Jonathan Foreman
Jonathan Foreman
New York Post

Slight though it may be, Yana's Friends is life-affirming and filled with comic spirit that erupts even at the worst of times.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
10/12/01
Lawrence Van Gelder
Lawrence Van Gelder
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Portrays not only the fear that Israelis live with every day, but also the difficulties in a nation where people are arriving from all over the world, not knowing Hebrew.

Full Review Source: Apollo Guide | comment Comment
02/09/04
Jamie Gillies
Jamie Gillies
Apollo Guide

A film whose warm-heartedness overcomes a lack of style.

Full Review Source: Compuserve | comment Comment
09/26/01
Harvey S. Karten
Harvey S. Karten
Compuserve

The treatment, both as satire and sentimentality, is heavy-handed.

Full Review Source: Globe and Mail | comment Comment
03/19/02
Liam Lacey
Liam Lacey
Globe and Mail

Yana's Friends isn't a black comedy, strictly speaking. But it somehow manages to find a surprising amount of humor in deadly serious and even potentially tragic situations.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Examiner | comment Comment
07/12/02
Joe Leydon
Joe Leydon
San Francisco Examiner

[Kaplun's] gentle, clear-eyed affection for his characters smooths out the film's rough edges and reminds viewers that friendship and even joy can be found during the most frightening times.

Full Review Source: Kansas City Star | comment Comment
04/04/03
Loey Lockerby
Loey Lockerby
Kansas City Star

Yana's Friends works best showing its characters coping with war uncomfortably close to home.

Full Review Source: Salt Lake Tribune | comment Comment
01/31/03
Sean Means
Sean Means
Salt Lake Tribune

Refreshing.

Full Review Source: Oregonian | comment Comment
06/21/02
Marc Mohan
Marc Mohan
Oregonian

The film eloquently persuades us that it is better to laugh than cry and better to make love than war, messages that never go out of date.

Full Review Source: Philadelphia Inquirer | comment Comment
04/18/02
Carrie Rickey
Carrie Rickey
Philadelphia Inquirer

I never imagined that Yana's Friends would one day turn out to be so timely for all New Yorkers -- and indeed, all Americans.

Full Review Source: New York Observer | comment Comment
10/18/01
Andrew Sarris
Andrew Sarris
New York Observer

A tender, spirited look at love and community in the midst of war.

Full Review Source: Boston Globe | comment Comment
06/21/02
Damon Smith
Damon Smith
Boston Globe

A warm humanity washes over this lovely film, whose message is that gestures of love, however small or awkward, are crucial to the complicated art of survival.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | comment Comment
09/26/01
Peter Stack
Peter Stack
San Francisco Chronicle
 
 
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