Or, My Treasure

Keren Yedaya's directorial debut, OR (MY TREASURE), tells of a complex mother-daughter relationship in modern-day Tel-Aviv, Israel. Or (Dana Ivgy) is a 16-year-old girl who does all she can to support her mother, Ruthie (Ronit Elkabetz), a sick and aging prostitute. The film takes great care in showing the taxing daily routines of Or's life: recycling loose cans, washing dishes in a local restaurant, and going to school when she can. Her ultimate goal is to earn enough money so that her mother never has to walk the streets again. Or even finds a housekeeping job for her mother in hopes that she'll stop turning tricks. It soon becomes clear that Or must assume all of the strains and responsibility of the household to help her poor mother, and thus the traditional roles of parent and child are reversed. Other films might make a character like Ruthie contemptible, but Yedaya does not. Indeed, there are some loving scenes between this mother and daughter who truly need each other.In OR (MY TREASURE), Yedaya achieves a unique look, including a minimal amount of shots per scene, and a gritty, no-frills aesthetic. The result is an unflinching and compelling film that won the Golden Camera for Best First Film at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival.