Trying to be a good person in an evil nation is a daily challenge for all of us. It becomes easy to err on one or the other extreme. Do I pay attention to absolutely everything that is done in my name around the world? Do I shut all of the noise out and ignore it because it is out of my control? Or do I take advantage within the system because it is all hopeless anyway? Obviously, the answer is in between, but where? Somewhere in between is not a specific goal, and it changes depending on the person and even on the day for said person. And this is one of the many foci of Yes!, a film set in Israel, immediately after the Hamas attacks of October 7th.
This setup may sound overly serious, but that is not indicative of the film, at all. This is a movie that opens with an extended musical dance number, complete with our protagonist, Y. (Ariel Bronz), having his face smashed into near liquid items of numerous colors, before falling into a pool, which leads to ping pong balls coming to the surface. Immediately following this, his dance partner (and partner in other ways), Yasmin (Efrat Dor), performs mouth-to-mouth resuscitation…and their dance continues. As you might gather from that brief description of the opening scene, Yes! is extra in just about every single way one can imagine.
Because of this excess in style, substance, and runtime, the first half hour or so is a test, but a necessary one. Through intense camera movements –guided by director Nadav Lapid and cinematographer Shaï Goldman– we learn about Y and his state of mind visually, as opposed to wasting time with pesky things like dialogue. Lapid leaves no room for the audience to rest, think, or consider the world around them, and this is absolutely purposeful. Much like our own lives, the “real world” intrudes upon our own struggles through notifications on our phones. No matter how dire the news, it is all filtered through a technological world and is controlled by forces well beyond our control or means.
Y, for instance, is a musician who seems to be making just enough to get by and provide for Yasmin and their infant son. When he is approached by an intensely rich Russian, solely credited as Big Billionaire (Aleksei Serebryakov), to create an anthem to rally the people of Israel after the Hamas attacks, the slow build towards a moral choice point begins for the protagonist. In a lesser film, there would be endless discussions about the pros and cons of even considering an answer of yes. But there is no subtlety in Yes! As Y moves towards the darkness of cashing in on governmental control, the film somehow becomes even louder and more extreme, which would have seemed impossible previously. Nearly every interaction is screamed, including a discussion with Yasmin about what this song could do for the family monetarily.
Through all of this, Lapid (who also wrote the script) makes no secret of his thoughts about Israel and the idea of cashing in. Using a combination of narration, news reports about the IDF attacking Gaza in increasingly horrific ways, and Bronz’s haunted eyes, he shows us the despicable nature of sympathizing with a government that is raping and murdering the innocent. It does not matter what you think you are achieving personally; if you are even a small part of the overarching villainy, it will destroy you from the inside out.
Yes! achieves an amazing feat, if you can let the loudness of the film wash over you. It is easy to feel that the film starts at a 10 and stays at that level throughout. But if you look and listen more closely, you will find that the 10 is just the beginning. For a movie that is ostensibly about rage, creation, and excess, it is somewhat shocking that the most pivotal moment takes place in a car, with Y and his ex, Leah (Naama Preis). This scene solidifies that no matter how we distract ourselves, eventually, there is no escape from the reality of the world that we are a part of. As the camera focuses in on the faces of Preis and Bronz, while we are forced to sit and endure Leah’s details of the horrific crimes committed by the IDF, all of the excess fades away.
Yes! is bombastic, massive, and full of a rage that none of us can escape. Despite its satirical, illogical, wild nature, Nadav Lapid shows us a not-so-hidden truth. No matter how loud the world is around us, no matter how much we try to distract ourselves with Dionysian revelry, sex, financial pursuits, and 15 second videos, the world that we try to ignore is still pushing forward and needs to be attacked, changed, and ultimately dismantled. There is much worth protecting, but evil empires are not among them.
Yes is currently playing in select theaters courtesy of Kino Lorber.
Yes! is bombastic, massive, and full of a rage that none of us can escape.
Dave is a lifelong film fan who really got his start in the independent film heyday of the 90’s. Since then, he has tried to branch out into arthouse, international, and avant garde film. Despite that, he still enjoys a good romcom or action movie. His goal is to always expand his horizons, through writing and watching new movies.
