Film Review: SOME NOTES ON THE CURRENT SITUATION: Eran Kolirin’s Offbeat Curiosity Piece Marks a Bold, Brave Vision [Locarno 2025]
Some Notes on the Current Situation Review
Some Notes on the Current Situation (2025) Film Review from the 78th Annual Locarno Film Festival, a movie written and directed by Eran Kolirin and starring Noa Cohen, Guy Nataf, Tal Perlman, Yonatan Shimony and Yehezkel Lazarov.
Eran Kolirin’s often hard-hitting absurdist comedy, Some Notes on the Current Situation, is a film from Israel that pokes fun at delicate issues and raises some awareness on modern-day topics while presenting characters who are often confused and searching for some sort of meaning in their lives. There are a number of humorous moments in Kolirin’s short black-and-white comedy feature that will be thought-provoking for more philosophical audiences while others may find themselves scratching their heads in amazement as the film tries to tie together six seemingly unrelated plot threads which coalesce to form this picture’s creative core.
This film opens with a man helping a woman push into a wall. Both these people push their bodies into the wall to try to get a desired result. These characters seem to be transported through time as the movie develops and end up debating whether or not they have gone ahead the right amount of time or not enough time. It’s hard to choose the perfect time period in which to live as there will always be obstacles to happiness as this movie certainly makes absolutely clear.
We also witness a military boot camp of sorts where the group of people assembled seem to be making a Netflix movie, according to the army drill sergeant/instructor. These moments are confusing, but we see an ambitious woman take center stage as this segment temporarily concludes in an intriguingly devastating way.
Noa Cohen and Tal Perlman are delightful to watch as the women in this film which is very artsy and experimental. Meanwhile, the men in the cast (Guy Nataf, Yonatan Shimony and Yehezkel Lazarov) tend to be a bit more down-to-earth and are occasionally relatable. That’s because the women characters are so sharply written and smart that they possess qualities that make them come across as larger than life. A female character in this film sets herself free on top of a car while men push the car at one point. This scene is one of the better ones in the film.
Perlman, in particular, stands out with a characterization that adds much depth to a role that doesn’t have as much screen time as it could have. Still, Perlman is full of charismatic qualities that make her one of the strongest parts of the film. Noa Cohen also has a lot of energy that manifests itself through her performance here as well.
Some Notes on the Current Situation ends up getting too philosophical for its own good as it pushes towards its unusual and complex ending. At one point, the sadness alongside the comic touches the film presents feel a bit over-the-top although the students employed to appear in the film are certainly able to make the material more effective than it could have been. In a less talented director’s hands, this could have been a sloppy movie, but instead it is often hard to take your eyes off the screen.
Politics do play a big part in the themes showcased in Some Notes on the Current Situation, but one doesn’t have to read too deeply into them to enjoy the movie on a basic level. This film works best when it focuses on the human desire to fit in. A couple of characters here want to be in the right time and place to get the most out of their lives and that’s a concept that could have made an entire movie in and of itself.
While the acting is top-notch, this film bites off more than it could chew at times. More focus could have been shifted to the female characters and less depressing revelations could have been made in a more upbeat take on the material.
With that being said, Some Notes on the Current Situation is smart for taking big risks by indirectly addressing things that are going on in society that people turn a blind eye to. This film also examines the possibilities that people are often afraid to embrace and, as a result, end up living lives that aren’t as fruitful as they could be. Though this is a comedy, there’s a lot of food for thought here. It could have gone on longer which could have fleshed out some key details of the characterizations, but the movie’s goal feels like it is to remain ambiguous in certain respects and very distinct in others. I liked the movie for what was there, but wish there was a bit more meat on its bones by the time the ending arrived.
Rating: 6.5/10
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