Professor Eliezer Shkolnik (Shlomo Bar-Aba) is thrilled to have finally won the prestigious Israel Prize for Talmudic Studies after having dedicated 30 years of his life to reconciling minutiae. The only problem is that the actual winner was his son, Uriel (Lior Ashkenazi), also a Professor Shkolnik, also a researcher in Talmudic Studies, and also with the same first initial (in Hebrew). Uriel learns of the administrative error and is paralyzed with indecision. He knows exactly how much it would mean to his father, but he also desperately craves the recognition from his peers.
This film is set up as a comedy but I failed to find any humor in it. Both Professors Shkolnik are fragile narcissists and bad fathers and I could not feel any sympathy for either of them. Maybe it's just me, but I can't imagine having my head so far up my own ass that I would be professionally jealous of my child.
It's currently streaming on the Criterion Channel and for free on Tubi.
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